Systems and methods for automated vehicle tracking for readiness with limited human interaction

ABSTRACT

Aspects described herein may facilitate an automated vehicle tracking for readiness with limited human interaction. One method comprises: receiving vehicle-specific identifying information of a vehicle requested for a test drive, a rental use, or a lease; prompt the placement of the vehicle within a first predetermined area; determining that the vehicle is entering the first predetermined area to begin the test drive, the rental use, or the lease; generating, using one or more image sensors associated with the first predetermined area, first multimedia content showing an aspect of the vehicle; determining that the vehicle is entering a second predetermined area to end the test drive, the rental use, or the lease; generating, using the one or more image sensors, second multimedia content showing the aspect of the vehicle; analyzing the first multimedia content and the second multimedia content to determine a difference in the aspect of the vehicle; generating, based on the difference, an assessment of the vehicle; and generating an indication prompting attention to the vehicle.

FIELD OF USE

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to electronic devices. Morespecifically, aspects of the disclosure may provide for systems andmethods for facilitating automated vehicle tracking for readiness withlimited human interaction.

BACKGROUND

Auto dealerships today may physically deploy personnel to inspectvehicles for various purposes. For example, some dealerships maydetermine the trade-in value of a vehicle by having personnel make aquick inspection of the vehicle for damages. Additionally, whencustomers request to test-drive, rent, or lease a vehicle, dealershippersonnel may inspect the vehicle before and after the vehicle, e.g., toensure that the vehicle was returned in the same condition.

Having personnel to inspect vehicles in such manner may add to thebottom line costs for auto dealerships. Furthermore, having to deal withauto dealership personnel may affect the experience of customers.Systems and methods are needed to overcome one or more of theshortcomings presented above.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects describedherein. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intendedto identify key or critical elements or to delineate the scope of theclaims. The following summary merely presents some concepts in asimplified form as an introductory prelude to the more detaileddescription provided below.

Aspects discussed herein may provide a computer-implemented method forfacilitating automated vehicle tracking for readiness with limited humaninteraction. The method may utilize sensors and other instruments instaging areas to generate multimedia content that captures the conditionof a vehicle before and after a test drive, a rental use, or a lease.The conditions may be compared and analyzed to track the readiness of avehicle (e.g., without the need for an in-person mechanic and/ordealer). Vehicles may be deemed to not be ready for another test-drive,another rental use, or another lease, if their condition hasdeteriorated.

For example, a server may receive vehicle-specific identifyinginformation of a vehicle requested for a test drive, rental use, orlease by a user. The user may be prompted to place the vehicle within apredetermined area (e.g., staging area) associated with a second device(e.g., staging area system). The vehicle may enter the predeterminedarea, e.g., for a first inspection, before beginning the test drive, therental use, or the lease. One or more image sensors of the second devicemay detect the vehicle, and the server may authenticate the vehicleusing the vehicle-specific identifying information. The server may senda permission to the second device to capture a first set of multimediacontent showing one or more aspects of the vehicle. Thereafter, theserver may receive, from the second device, the first set of multimediacontent showing the one or more aspects of the vehicle, and a time ofgeneration of the first set of multimedia content.

It is contemplated that after the second device sends the first set ofmultimedia content, the user may begin test-driving or otherwise usingthe vehicle, e.g., driving the vehicle in order to assess the vehiclefor possibly buying, renting, or otherwise leasing the vehicle. The usermay be prompted to return the vehicle after the test drive, rental use,or lease, to the same or another predetermined area associated with thesecond device. The user may be prompted through a mobile application ofthe user's mobile device. After the user returns the vehicle to thepredetermined area, one or more image sensors of the second device maydetect that the vehicle is entering the predetermined area to end thetest drive, rental use, or lease. The server may receive, from thesecond device (e.g., via its one or more image sensors), a second set ofmultimedia content showing the one or more aspects of the vehicle, and atime of generation of the second set of multimedia content. Furthermore,the server may analyze the first set of multimedia content and thesecond set of multimedia content to determine differences in the one ormore aspects of the vehicle. For example, the analyzing may comprise:creating a first input vector comprising a first image data of the firstset of multimedia content and a second input vector comprising a secondimage data of the second set of multimedia content; applying a firstweight to the first input vector and a second weight to the second inputvector; generating, based on an artificial neural network, an outputvector to indicate an indicia of similarity between the first set ofmultimedia content and the second set of multimedia content; andgenerating, based on the indicia of similarity, an assessment of thevehicle. The server may determine whether the generated assessment failsto satisfy a predetermined threshold. If the generated assessment failsto satisfy the predetermined threshold, the server may generate anindication prompting attention to the vehicle.

Also or alternatively, the first set of multimedia content may begenerated before a user rents or leases a vehicle, and the second set ofmultimedia content may be generated after the user returns the rented orleased vehicle. Thus, for any of the aspects described herein, the testdrive may be replaced with a rental or lease period of the vehicle. Forexample, a user may take the vehicle to a predetermined area formultimedia content generation to before renting the vehicle, and thencome back to a predetermined area for multimedia content generation whenreturning the rented vehicle.

Corresponding methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer-readable mediaare also within the scope of the disclosure.

Further aspects described herein may allow a vehicle user toautomatically trade-in a vehicle (e.g., at a dealership, vehicle shop,or lot) in a manner that limits unnecessary human interaction. By way ofintroduction at a high level, a user may use a mobile device to send arequest to begin an automated trade-in of a vehicle associated with theuser (“user vehicle”). The request may be sent to a server that managessuch requests. The user may be instructed to submit information aboutthe vehicle along with photos and other multimedia content covering oneor more aspects of the user vehicle. The information can be enteredinto, and/or the multimedia content can be uploaded to, a mobileapplication running on the mobile device and managed by the server.Based on these submissions, the server may deliver an initial estimateof the value of the user vehicle. The user may be directed via themobile device to place the user vehicle into a staging area. The stagingarea may comprise a predetermined area where one or more image sensorsdetect the user vehicle, and one or more cameras and other instrumentscan obtain and send further photos and other multimedia contentregarding one or more aspects of the user vehicle. Based on themultimedia content received from the staging area, the server mayautomatically determine a trade-in value for the user vehicle. In one ormore aspects, the server may utilize machine learning models that learnfrom reference data (e.g., photos of various aspects of other vehiclesand the actual values of the vehicles) to determine the trade-in valueof the user vehicle. Also or alternatively, the determination of thetrade-in value may be based on an adjustment of the initial estimatedvalue of the vehicle.

These and other aspects of the present disclosure may provide variousbenefits to the auto dealers, prospective customers, and the vehicleindustry. For example, systems and methods that facilitate a user toautomatically receive a trade-in value of the user vehicle without anemployee being present may allow auto dealers to cut costs andunnecessary time and labor. Furthermore, these systems and methods mayenhance a user's experience by allowing the user to receive an objectiveassessment of the vehicle, e.g., based on machine learning, withouthaving to deal with biases or other subjectivity presented by an autodealer appraising a vehicle.

According to some aspects, these and other benefits may be achieved by astaging area system comprising a predetermined area that detects thepresence or entry of a vehicle (e.g., via an image sensor), andgenerates and sends various multimedia content of specific aspects ofthe vehicle (e.g., exterior body, under the vehicle, interior, etc.).The multimedia content generators may be enhanced by illumination thatis dependent on or calibrated by sunlight intensity or the time of theday. A computing system or server may facilitate the automated trade-inof vehicles with limited human interaction. For example, a server mayreceive, from a mobile device of a user, a request to begin a valuedetermination of a vehicle associated with associated with the user. Theserver may prompt the mobile device, e.g., via a mobile application, tosend data (“first data”) comprising: vehicle-specific identifyinginformation, and multimedia content showing one or more aspects (“firstaspect”) of the vehicle associated with a user. The server may thusreceive this first data. The user may be directed to place the vehicleassociated with the user within a predetermined area (e.g., stagingarea) associated with a second computing device (e.g., a staging areasystem). Based on a feedback received from one or more image sensors ofthe second computing device, the server may determine that the vehicleassociated with the user is or has been placed within the predeterminedarea. The server may receive, from the one or more image sensors, seconddata comprising multimedia content showing a second aspect of thevehicle. The second data comprising the multimedia content may begenerated by one or more instruments (e.g., cameras) associated with thesecond computing device. The server may create a feature vectorcomprising the first data and the second data. The feature vector may beinputted into a machine learning algorithm corresponding to thevehicle-specific identifying information of the vehicle. Based on themachine learning algorithm, the server may determine a value of thevehicle.

Corresponding methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer-readable mediaare also within the scope of the disclosure.

These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a computing device that may be used inimplementing one or more aspects of the disclosure in accordance withone or more illustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 2 depicts an example environment in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 3 depicts an example network in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 4A-4B depict flow diagrams of example methods performed by theserver for facilitating an automated trade-in of vehicles with limitedhuman interaction, in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdiscussed herein;

FIG. 5 depicts a flow diagram of an example method performed by astaging area system for facilitating an automated trade-in of vehicleswith limited human interaction, in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein;

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram of an example method performed by a serverfor facilitating automated vehicle tracking for readiness with limitedhuman interaction, in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdiscussed herein; and

FIG. 7 depicts a flow diagram of an example method performed by astaging area system for facilitating automated vehicle tracking forreadiness with limited human interaction, in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in whichaspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural and functionalmodifications may be made without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. Aspects of the disclosure are capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways.Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology usedherein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof.

By way of introduction, aspects discussed herein may relate to systems,methods, techniques, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer readablemedia for automatically determining the trade-in value of a vehicle withlimited human interaction. For example, a staging area system maycomprise one or more instruments for generating content pertaining to avehicle and sending such content to a computing system or server. Thestaging area system may be associated with a staging area where thevehicle may be placed. The server may communicate with a mobile deviceof the user and the staging area system. The server may rely on alibrary, database, or external systems for training data from referencevehicles in order to learn and generate algorithms for accuratelydetermining a trade-in value of a vehicle. The server may receiverequests from, prompt instructions to, and deliver automated trade-indeterminations to a mobile device of the user. The mobile device maydisplay information or receive input via a user interface of a mobileapplication using one or more methods. The server, staging area system,and/or mobile device may be examples of one or more computing devices.As discussed further herein, this combination of features may allow theautomatic determination of a trade-in value of a vehicle with limitedhuman interaction. As will be described further herein, FIGS. 4A-4Bdescribe methods performed by the server for automatically determiningthe trade-in value of a vehicle with limited human interaction, whileFIG. 5 describes a method performed by the staging area system forfacilitating the automatic determination of the trade-in value of thevehicle.

By way of introduction, further aspects discussed herein may relate tosystems, methods, techniques, apparatuses, and non-transitory computerreadable media for automated vehicle tracking for readiness (e.g., for atest-drive, rental use, or lease) with limited human interaction. Theserver may receive a signal that a vehicle is requested, e.g., for atest-drive, a rental use, a lease, etc. The signal may be received froma mobile device of a user or from the staging area system. The servermay prompt a user (e.g., via the mobile device) to place the vehicle ina staging area of the staging area system prior to the test drive,rental use, or lease. Instruments at or near the staging area maygenerate a first set of multimedia content of one or more aspects of thevehicle. The server may receive the first set of multimedia content.After the test-drive, rental use, or lease, the user may be prompted toreturn the vehicle to a staging area of the staging area system. Asecond set of multimedia content of the one or more aspects of thevehicle may be generated by instruments at or near the staging area, andmay be sent to the server. The server may compare the first set ofmultimedia content and second set of multimedia content, and generate anindicia of similarity based on the comparison. The server may rely on alibrary, database, or external systems for training data from referencevehicles to determine an appropriate indicia of similarity amongmultimedia content. Furthermore, the server may utilize algorithms forspotting differences in multimedia content (e.g., images). The servermay prompt attention to the vehicle if the indicia of similarity failsto meet a predetermined threshold. The server, staging area system,and/or mobile device may be examples of one or more computing devices.As discussed further herein, this combination of features may allow theautomated vehicle tracking for readiness of a vehicle (e.g., fortest-drive, rental use, lease, etc.). As will be described furtherherein, FIG. 6 describes a method performed by the server for tracking avehicle and assessing the readiness of the vehicle, while FIG. 7describes a method performed by the staging area system for facilitatingthe automated vehicle tracking for readiness with limited humaninteraction.

Before discussing these concepts in greater detail, however, severalexamples of a computing device that may be used in implementing and/orotherwise providing various aspects of the disclosure will first bediscussed with respect to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a computing device 101 that may beused to implement one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein. Forexample, computing device 101 may, in some embodiments, implement one ormore aspects of the disclosure by reading and/or executing instructionsand performing one or more actions based on the instructions. In someembodiments, computing device 101 may represent, be incorporated in,and/or include various devices such as a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a smart phone, any other types of mobilecomputing devices, and the like). Furthermore, the computing device 101may be a computing system located near a staging area (e.g., the stagingarea system) and/or any other type of data processing device.

Computing device 101 may, in some embodiments, operate in a standaloneenvironment. In others, computing device 101 may operate in a networkedenvironment. As shown in FIG. 1, various devices 101, 105, 106A-106B,107, 108, and 109 may be interconnected via a network 103, such as theInternet. Other networks may also or alternatively be used, includingprivate intranets, corporate networks, LANs, wireless networks,Bluetooth networks, personal networks (PAN), and the like. Network 103is for illustration purposes and may be replaced with fewer oradditional computer networks. A local area network (LAN) may have one ormore of any known LAN topology and may use one or more of a variety ofdifferent protocols, such as Ethernet. Devices 101, 105, 106A-106B, 107,108, 109 and other devices (not shown) may be connected to one or moreof the networks via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber optics,radio waves or other communication media.

As seen in FIG. 1, computing device 101 may include a processor 111, RAM113, ROM 115, network interface 117, input/output interfaces 119 (e.g.,keyboard, mouse, display, printer, etc.), and memory 121. Processor 111may include one or more computer processing units (CPUs), graphicalprocessing units (GPUs), and/or other processing units such as aprocessor adapted to perform computations for determining initial orfinal estimates of a trade-in value of a vehicle, training a machinelearning algorithm based on training data comprising vehicle-specificinformation, multimedia content, and market or trade-in values of aplurality of reference vehicles; tracking the placement of a vehiclewithin a staging area; and managing information received from the mobiledevice and the staging area systems, and other functions. In someaspects, processor 111 may be adapted to perform computations forauthorizing, instructing, or directing external computing systems (e.g.,sensors, devices, and other instruments associated with a staging area)to generate multimedia content, managing and facilitating a mobileapplication for test-driving, and analyzing multimedia content capturingone or more aspects of a vehicle at disparate times, and tracking thereadiness of vehicles (e.g., for a test-drive, rental use, lease, etc.).I/O 119 may include a variety of interface units and drives for reading,writing, displaying, and/or printing data or files. I/O 119 may becoupled with a display such as display 120. In some aspects, I/O 119 maybe used to display information (e.g., instructions, staging areadirections or locations, automated trade-in values, readinessassessments and scores, etc.) on a mobile application of the mobiledevice 109. Memory 121 may store software for configuring computingdevice 101 into a special purpose computing device in order to performone or more of the various functions discussed herein. Memory 121 maystore operating system software 123 for controlling overall operation ofcomputing device 101, control logic 125 for instructing computing device101 to perform aspects discussed herein. Furthermore, memory 121 maystore various databases and applications depending on the particularuse, for example, vehicle database 127, staging area database 131, andmultimedia content database 133 may be stored in a memory of a computingdevice used at a server system that will be described further below.Control logic 125 may be incorporated in and/or may comprise a linkingengine that updates, receives, and/or associates various informationstored in the memory 121 (e.g., multimedia content metadata, vehicleidentifiers, staging area identifiers, etc.). In other embodiments,computing device 101 may include two or more of any and/or all of thesecomponents (e.g., two or more processors, two or more memories, etc.)and/or other components and/or subsystems not illustrated here.

Device 101 (or device 105, 106A-106B, 107, 108, 109) may furthercomprise one or more applications, software, plug-ins, programs, or code(“applications” 135), which may be used to perform one or more methodsor steps described herein. In some aspects, a device 101 (e.g., aserver) may comprise an application program interface or an applicationserver to manage, host, or facilitate applications 135 running on otherdevices (e.g., device 105, 106A-106B, 107, 108, or 109). For simplicity,application 135 may also be used to refer to said application server orapplication program interface. For example, device 101 may include amultimedia content assessment tool 137 which may comprise anapplication, software, plug-in, program, and/or code to assessmultimedia content received and/or uploaded by various devices.

Devices 105, 107, 109 may have similar or different architecture asdescribed with respect to computing device 101. Those of skill in theart will appreciate that the functionality of computing device 101 (ordevice 105, 106A-106B, 107, 108, 109) as described herein may be spreadacross multiple data processing devices, for example, to distributeprocessing load across multiple computers, to segregate transactionsbased on geographic location, user access level, quality of service(QoS), etc. For example, devices 101, 105, 106A-106B, 107, 108, 109, andothers may operate in concert to provide parallel computing features insupport of the operation of control logic 125 and/or applications 135.

One or more aspects discussed herein may be embodied in computer-usableor readable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as in oneor more program modules, executed by one or more computers or otherdevices as described herein. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data typeswhen executed by a processor in a computer or other device. The modulesmay be written in a source code programming language that issubsequently compiled for execution, or may be written in a scriptinglanguage such as (but not limited to) HTML or XML. The computerexecutable instructions may be stored on a computer readable medium suchas a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid statememory, RAM, etc. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, thefunctionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed asdesired in various embodiments. In addition, the functionality may beembodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such asintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and thelike. Particular data structures may be used to more effectivelyimplement one or more aspects discussed herein, and such data structuresare contemplated within the scope of computer executable instructionsand computer-usable data described herein. Various aspects discussedherein may be embodied as a method, a computing device, a dataprocessing system, or a computer program product.

Having discussed several examples of computing devices which may be usedto implement some aspects as discussed further below, discussion willnow turn to an illustrative environment and network for automatedtrade-in of vehicles with limited human interaction.

FIG. 2 depicts an example environment 200 in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein. In at least one aspect, a user202, via a mobile device 204, may be able to automatically receive atrade-in value for a vehicle associated with the user (“user vehicle”206) with minimal human interaction. For example, the user 202 may senda request for automated trade-in value determination for the uservehicle 206 via the mobile device 204. In various embodiments, “trade-invalue” may be used to refer to a monetary or economic value of a vehiclee.g., for the purpose of selling or returning the vehicle. The requestmay be inputted into an application running on mobile device 204 and maybe sent to a remote or local server 234. The user 202 may be giveninstructions to enter or upload various information about the uservehicle 206 that could be used to determine the trade-in value of makean initial estimate of the trade-in value. For example, the user may beprompted to enter in information identifying the user vehicle(“vehicle-specific information”) on a mobile application running on themobile device 204 of the user 202. Further, the user may be prompted toupload photos (or other forms of multimedia content) of one or moreaspects of the vehicle 206. As shown in FIG. 2, the user vehicle 206 maynot necessarily be in its best condition. For example, the user vehicle206 may show wear and tear or damage 208 that can affect the trade-invalue of the vehicle 206. Thus, the user may upload photos of thedamaged portion 208 of the user vehicle 206 to obtain a realistictrade-in value. The server 234 may receive the vehicle-specificinformation and the multimedia content from the mobile device 204 via awireless and/or cellular network.

The server may instruct the user (via mobile device 204) to place theuser vehicle 206 within a staging area 212A. In various embodiments, a“staging area” may be used to refer to a predetermined area for theplacement of a vehicle where instruments associated with the stagingarea can automatically generate content concerning various aspects ofthe vehicle. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, staging areas 212A and212B are predetermined areas for a vehicle can be placed so that variousinstruments (e.g., cameras 224 and 226, sound recorders 228, etc.) canbe better poised at obtaining data (e.g., photos, videos, recordings,etc.) of the vehicle. This content may be delivered to the server 234over a network. For example, a communications module 230 near thestaging area may facilitate the communication between the server 234 andthe various devices associated with the staging area. As will bedescribed further, the various instruments, devices, and/or computingsystems associated with a staging area can be referred to collectivelyas “staging area system” for simplicity. Also or alternatively, “stagingarea system” may be used to refer to a central device or computingsystem 220 that received data obtained from the various instruments. Insome implementations, the server 234 may prompt the staging area systemto signal a user 202 to place the user vehicle 206 into a staging area212A. The signaling may be via traffic indicators, e.g., “Go” 216 and“Stop” 218, as shown in FIG. 2. In some aspects the staging area systemdetects the placement or presence of a vehicle 206 via image sensors214A and 214B. Through this detection the staging area system maydeliver a feedback to the server 234 that a vehicle has entered thestaging area 214A. Also or alternatively, one or more cameras 224 and226 can generate multimedia content (e.g., photos, videos, etc.) of theincoming or placed vehicle 206 and the multimedia content can be used toauthenticate the vehicle. Furthermore, the cameras 224 and 226 may beused to generate further multimedia content of one or more aspects ofthe user vehicle 206. In some implementations, the cameras 224 and 226,and/or image sensors 214A-214B may be aided by illumination provided bylight sources (e.g., lamps 222A-222B). The light sources may beperiodically adjusted or calibrated based on the level of sunlight 236.The adjustment or calibration can help ensure that the multimediacontent generated by the staging area system remains consistent,regardless of the time of day. Furthermore, the staging area may becovered 232, e.g., to further maintain this consistency of generatededucational content so that the trade-in value of vehicles can beaccurately determined. In some aspects, the server 234 may also receivedata from the user vehicle 206 via its telematics system 210. The datareceived from the telematics system 210 may be indicative of thevehicle's trade-in value and may thus be used in the automateddetermination.

In at least another illustrative aspect, a server may track thereadiness of a plurality of vehicles (e.g., vehicle 206), for example,to provide a better experience for users 202 who would like to testdrive a vehicle 206, and/or to inform auto dealers of the readiness oftheir vehicles (e.g., for test-driving, rental use, leasing, etc.). Auser 202 seeking to test-drive, rent, and/or lease a vehicle 208 may beguided by a mobile application running on the user's mobile device 204to take the vehicle 206 to a first staging area 212A before proceedingto use the vehicle in the requested capacity. Traffic signals 216 and218 may further assist the user 202 in the placement of the vehicle 206onto the first staging area 212A. There, an image sensor 214A of thefirst staging area 212A may detect the vehicle 206 and send feedback tothe server 234. The server 234, after authenticating the vehicle 206,may direct various instruments of the staging area system 220 (e.g.,cameras 224 and 226, audio recorders 228, image sensors 214A, etc.) tocapture the conditions of one or more aspects of the vehicle throughvarious multimedia content (e.g., image, video, audio, readings, etc.)before the test-drive, rental use, or leasing period. In some aspects,the server 234 or the staging area system 220 may also communicate withthe telematics system 210 of the vehicle and obtain data indicating thecondition of one or more aspects of the vehicle 206. The staging areasystem 220 may send the multimedia content (i.e., first multimediacontent) capturing the conditions of the one or more aspects of thevehicle 206 to the server 234 via communications module 230. The user202 may proceed to test-drive the vehicle 206 or initiate the rental useor lease of the vehicle 206. The user 202 may be reminded, e.g., viamobile application 204, to return the vehicle 206 after the test-drive,rental use period, or lease period to a staging area 212B (i.e., secondstaging area). After detection of the vehicle 206, e.g., via imagesensor 214B, the server 234 may again authenticate the vehicle 206.Furthermore, the server 234 may again authorize or instruct variousinstruments of the staging area system 220 to generate multimediacontent (i.e., second multimedia content) capturing the conditions ofthe one or more aspects of the vehicle after the test-drive, rental use,or lease. The second multimedia content may also be sent to the server234 via communications module 230. The server 234 may analyze the firstmultimedia content, the second multimedia content, and their respectivemetadata to generate an assessment of the readiness of the vehicle 206.In at least one aspect, the assessment may be based on a machinelearning model that compares the image data of the first multimediacontent to the second multimedia content to determine a indicia ofsimilarity.

FIG. 3 depicts an example network 300 in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein. Each component or subcomponentshown in FIG. 3 may be implemented in hardware, software, or acombination of the two. Additionally, each component or subcomponent mayinclude a computing device (or system) having some or all of thestructural components described above for computing device 101. At ahigh level, the network 300 may include, for example, one or more mobiledevices (e.g., mobile device 302), one or more staging area systems(e.g., staging area system 318), one or more vehicle systems (e.g.,vehicle system 334), and one or more server systems (e.g., server system352). The mobile device 302 (e.g., a user device) may comprise a mobilephone (e.g., a smartphone), personal computer, tablet computer, laptop,or the like, which may include at least some of the features describedherein. The mobile device 302 may belong to a user seeking to utilizesystems and methods described herein, and may be used to send requeststo and/or receive notifications from server system 352, e.g., via anapplication and/or program hosted, managed, and/or otherwise controlledby the server system 352. For example, the mobile device 302 may be usedto request an automated determination of a trade-in value of a vehicle;upload multimedia content; enter relevant vehicle-specific information;and view notifications, calculations, and assessments and statusupdates. The mobile device 302 may be a computing device distinct fromthe staging area system 318, vehicle system 334, or the server system352.

According to some aspects of the disclosure described herein, the mobiledevice 302 may comprise one or more components or features describedbelow. Through a communications interface 312, the mobile device may beable to form wired and/or wireless data connections with other computingsystems and devices, such as the one or more components of the stagingarea system 318, the vehicle 334, and the server system 352 (e.g., asdescribed further below) via an internet and/or other telecommunicationsnetwork (e.g., communications network 390). The mobile device 302 mayinclude various sensors 304 configured to capture physical data (e.g.,images, videos, or sounds pertaining to the user vehicle); collectlocational, geographical, and/or movement information; and/or transmitdata. For example, the mobile device 302 may comprise a built-in orconnected image sensor 308 (e.g., a camera) that may generate multimediacontent (e.g., image and/or video data). A user may operate image sensor308 to capture image and/or video data for specific aspects of avehicle. These aspects may be requested by the server via the mobileapplication (e.g., “Please take a photo of your vehicle's dashboard”).In some implementations, the mobile application may provide an area oran overlaid diagram on a camera field of view for the user to generate aphoto accordingly. Also or alternatively, the generated multimediacontent may be voluntarily submitted by the user and the aspect of thevehicle being captured may be indicated or selected by the user.Generated multimedia content may also include metadata indicating thetime, date, and/or location of the generation. The metadata may be savedin a memory and may also be received by the server system 352.Furthermore, the sensors 304 may include a location sensor 306 (e.g.,global positioning system (GPS)) to determine a location of the mobiledevice. For example, based on the location of the mobile device 302detected by the location sensor 306, the server system 352 may promptthe user to place the user vehicle to a staging area that is nearest.Other types of sensors may also be downloaded as applications 316. Themobile device 302 may also store user-specific identifying informationwithin its memory (not shown), which can be accessed by or sent to theserver 352, e.g., as metadata.

The user interface 314 may be a display coupled with input devices(e.g., keyboard, type pad, touch screen, mouse, buttons, icons,microphone, sensors, etc.) that allows a user to send requests, inputinformation and/or view information. For example, the user interface 314may allow a user to send a request to the server system 352 toautomatically determine the trade-in value of a vehicle. The userinterface 314 may then display instructions to the user to entervehicle-specific information, generate and upload multimedia content, ortake the user vehicle to a nearby staging area. The mobile device 302may also run programs or applications 316 on a user interface 314. Oneapplication or program may enable a user to use the systems and methodsdescribed herein to receive an automated determination of a trade-invalue of a vehicle with limited human interaction. Another applicationor program may guide the user desiring to test-drive, rent, and/or leasea vehicle to bring the vehicle to staging areas for inspection beforeand after the period of test-drive, rental use, or lease. Theapplication or program may be provided to the user device or hosted byserver 352 (e.g., via an application program interface (API) 366). Insome implementations, the mobile device 302 may include one or moresubcomponents of computing device 101, shown in FIG. 1.

The staging area system 318 may include one or more devices, computingsystems, or sensors at, adjacent to, or associated with a staging areaof a vehicle. The staging area system 318 may include one or more of thefeatures and components described below. The staging area system 318 mayinclude various instruments 320 configured to: generate multimediacontent that capture physical data of the vehicle parked in a stagingarea at, adjacent to, or associated with the staging area system 318;collect locational or geographical information (e.g., via locationsensor 324); track the entry, exit, and presence of vehicles (e.g., viaimage sensor 322); calibrate or adjust the conditions for the generationof multimedia content (e.g., via illumination devices 332 and sunlightsensors 324), and/or transmit sensor data. For example, the parking spotsystem 318 may include a built-in or affixed image sensor 326 (e.g., amotion detector, camera, etc.) that may detect a vehicle, authenticatethe vehicle, or generate multimedia content of an aspect of the vehicle(e.g., image and/or video data).

The staging area system 318 may comprise a plurality of electronicinstruments 320 and communications interface 330 to establish wireless,wired, or network connections with one or more other systems (e.g., themobile device 302, the server system 352, the vehicle systems 334, etc.)The electronic instruments 320 may be one or more devices or sensorsthat generate multimedia content that capture physical data of thevehicle. The physical data may be indicate of a condition of the vehicleand/or may affect the trade-in value of the vehicle. For example, theelectronic instruments 320 may include image sensors 322 (e.g., cameras,motion detectors, etc.), and sound recorders 326. The image sensors maybe placed at various angles facing the staging area or vehicle, or atvarious locations near or at the staging area, e.g., to capturedifferent aspects of the vehicle. For example, an image sensor at thebase (e.g., ground) of the staging area may be used to generatemultimedia content that could show whether the vehicle has any leakageissues. Such an image sensor may also be used to detect the entry, exit,or presence of a vehicle. In another example, an image sensor hoveringabove the staging area may be used to generate multimedia content thatreveal any issues to the top exterior of the vehicle. Sound recorders326 may be able to capture sound recordings of a vehicle after a userhas been instructed to keep the vehicle running or cause the vehicle toperform a prescribed function. The user may be provided the instructionvia the mobile application 316 on the mobile device 302 and/or via adisplay signal provided by the staging area system 318. Furthermore, theelectronic instruments 320 may also include a sunlight sensor 324 to aidin the calibration or adjustment of the conditions for generatingmultimedia content, e.g., by appropriately increasing or decreasingillumination via illumination devices 332.

The staging area system 318 may also include a traffic signal system 328to guide the user in the placement of the user vehicle or in theperformance of various functions. For example, the traffic signal system328 may include color-based and/or textual displays, e.g., “Go,” “Stop,”“Slow,” to guide the user vehicle to the staging area. These displaysmay comprise, for example, markers 216 and 218 in FIG. 2. These displaysmay be triggered based on instructions given to it by the server system352. Furthermore, the staging area system 318 may provide instructions(e.g., via a display of the traffic signal system 328) to the user toperform functions including, e.g., turning the vehicle on, pressing thegas pedal, activating various lights of the vehicle, activatingwindshield wipers, activating blinkers, and the like. Through thesefunctions, the staging area system 318 can appropriately gather physicaldata, e.g., via sound recordings, images, or videos.

The vehicle system 334 may include one or more devices, computingsystems, circuitry or sensors that are interior to, exterior to, orotherwise associated with a vehicle. For example, the vehicle system 334may include telematics system 210, as shown in FIG. 2. The vehiclesystem 334 may include one or more of the features and componentsdescribed below, according to some aspects of the present disclosure.For example, the vehicle system 334 may include various sensors 334configured to capture a state of the vehicle (e.g., telematics sensors340) or collect locational or geographical information (e.g., GPS device342). The telematics sensors 340 may compile the data captured byvarious sensors measuring or assessing the performance of variousaspects of the vehicle. The location sensor (e.g., a global positioningservice (GPS)) 342 may capture and present a location of the vehicle.The telematics sensors 340 may further include, but are not limited to,an oil filter sensor, an odometer, a fuel tank sensor, a thermometer, avehicle computer, or a voltage sensor. Vehicle computers may be accessedthrough an OBD2 port, Bluetooth capabilities, or the like. The vehiclecomputer may be used to access additional sensors (e.g., tire pressuremonitoring systems) or vehicle information (e.g., engine codes).Readings or measurements obtained from these and other telematicssensors may be useful for assessing the trade-in value of a vehicle.Furthermore, readings or measurements obtained from these and othertelematics sensors before and after a test-drive, rental use, or leaseof a vehicle may be useful in tracking the readiness of the vehicle.

The vehicle 334 may also include a user interface 338 to allow a user toview sensor data (e.g., location, vehicle state or performance, etc.)received from the above-described sensors, or communicate with externalsystems. The vehicle system 334 may send information to or receiveinformation from other systems (e.g., the mobile device 302, the stagingarea system 318, the server system 352, etc.) over a network 390, viacommunications interface 336. The communications interface 336 maycomprise a wireless communications interface, such as a cellularconnection (e.g., LTE, 5G), a Wi-Fi connection (e.g., Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi6), or a Bluetooth tether to a mobile device 302. In someimplementations, the vehicle system 334 may function as a user device ofthe user and may perform one or more of the functions described formobile device 302 (e.g., sending a request to receive an automateddetermination of a trade-in value).

The server system 352 may comprise one or more remote, local, and/orconnected computing systems or servers managing one or more functions ofthe above-described systems (e.g., the mobile device 302, the stagingarea system 318, the vehicle system 334, etc.) to facilitate methods andsystems described herein. For example, in some implementations, server352 may be connected to the staging area system 318. At a high level,the server system may comprise one or more databases 354, applicationprogram interfaces (APIs) 366, a linking engine 376, an update interface378, and a communications interface 380. The update interface 378 andlinking engine 376 may form a database management application, software,or plug-in that may be used to perform create, read, update, or destroy(CRUD) functions with respect to data stored in the one or moredatabases 354. For example, the linking engine 376 may be used to formassociations or link suitable data from different databases together,and/or to create new data based on associations or linkages. The updateinterface 378 may be used to update databases (e.g., by adding ordeleting) data stored in the one or more databases 354 based oninstructions from other parts of the server system 352 (e.g., computerreadable instructions stored in memory of an API) or informationreceived from one or more external systems (e.g., the mobile device 302,the staging area system 318, the vehicle systems 334, etc.). The serversystem 352 may send information to or receive information from theexternal systems over a communications network 390 via communicationsinterface 336.

The server system 352 may include one or more databases described below.For example, the server system 352 may include a database of userprofiles 356, which store identifying or biographical informationpertaining to a user or link the user to a user vehicle or mobiledevice. For example, the user profile may be based on or associated withan identifier of a mobile device of the user (e.g., mobile device ID357).

The server system 352 may include a database of known staging areas 362,e.g., based on a geographic region. After the server system 352 receivesa request for an automated determination of a trade-in value, the serversystem 352 may use locational information of the mobile device to locatethe nearest staging area for a user to drive the user vehicle to. Thedatabase of staging areas 362 may store identifiers of parking spotswithin a predetermined distance from a designated address or location.The address or location may be based on the location of a user, whichmay be found using a location sensor, e.g., of the mobile device 302 orof the vehicle system 334. Thus, a database of staging areas 362 for theexample environment illustrated in FIG. 2 may include identifiers ofstaging areas 212A-212B. As it is contemplated that staging areas 362may be associated with various instruments (e.g., sensors, devices,etc.), in some aspects, the database of staging areas 362 may include adatabase of the various instruments that are identifiable at the stagingarea (instrument IDs 363).

The server system 352 may include a database of vehicle profiles 358.The vehicle profiles may identify vehicles, e.g., by vehicleidentification numbers, license plate numbers, and/or or other vehicledescriptors. In some examples, a vehicle may be identified based on anidentifier of its vehicle key (e.g., a vehicle key ID). The list ofvehicles may depend on the systems and methods for which the server 352is being utilized. For example, for a specific identified vehicle, whicha user may have been test driven or otherwise used, the vehicle profilesdatabase 358 may store information pertaining to the vehicle's originalstate (i.e., original state content 364). The stored information mayinclude stored multimedia content (e.g., photos of the vehicle'soriginal state). Also or alternatively, the vehicle profiles 358 maystore information pertaining one or more make, model, class, year ofmanufacture, color, type, or category of a vehicle. For example, thevehicle profiles database 358 may identify vehicles that one or moreusers seek to determine a trade-in value for based on systems andmethods described herein. In some implementations, the server 352 mayinclude a database for the original values 360 of the vehicle.

The sever system 352 may include a database for multimedia content 364,which capture physical data of various aspects of the vehicle. Eachmultimedia content may include metadata that may reveal the time, data,and/or geographic location of its generation. Furthermore, the databasemay also indicate the source of the multimedia content (e.g., mobiledevice 302 of the user or an instrument 320 of the staging area system318). The multimedia content database 364 may also indicate the aspectof the vehicle that the multimedia content purports to represent.Furthermore, the multimedia content database 364 may also storemultimedia content pertaining to a plurality of reference vehicles withknown market or trade-in values, e.g., to train machine learningalgorithms and other learned or prediction models.

The server system 352 may include one or more APIs described below. Theserver system 352 may include, e.g., an API for an application for theautomated determination of a vehicle's trade-in value (e.g., trade-inAPI 368), an API for an application for tracking the readiness of avehicle (e.g., readiness tracker API 370), among others.

FIGS. 4A-4B depict flow diagrams of example methods for facilitating anautomated trade-in of vehicles with limited human interaction, inaccordance with one or more illustrative aspects discussed herein.Specifically, FIGS. 4A-4B shows an example method 400 of which one ormore steps or portions can be performed by a server or computing systemtasked with facilitating the automated trade-in of vehicles with limitedhuman interaction (“server”) (e.g., computing device 101, server 234,server system 352). As will be explained further below, FIG. 5 shows anexample method 500 of which one or more steps or portions can beperformed by the staging area system (e.g., computing device 105,staging area system 220, staging area system 318). In some instances,method 400 may be performed by the server and/or the staging areasystem. With respect to example method 400, FIG. 4A shows a firstportion of method 400 (method 400A) where the server may determinewhether a request for an automated determination of a trade-in value hasbeen received, and may process such a request by obtaining informationfrom other systems (e.g., a mobile device and/or a staging area system).FIG. 4B shows a second portion of method 400 (method 400B) where theserver may utilize a machine learning model or a prediction model toautomatically determine the trade-in value for the vehicle. Furthermore,FIG. 4B also shows a method 400C of training such a machine learningalgorithm or a prediction model based on reference training data.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, a server may begin method 400A by monitoringwhether it has received any request for an automated trade-in valuedetermination for a user vehicle 206, or monitoring for new referencevehicles to refine its prediction models (e.g., until an external eventoccurs). These above-described monitoring steps (i.e., monitoringoperation(s)) may be performed as a cyclical process and/or as abackground operation. It is contemplated that the server may beconnected to external systems (e.g., mobile devices 302, vehicle systems334, staging area systems 318, vehicle manufacturer and/or dealershipsystems, etc.) over a communication network 390 for such monitoringoperations to occur.

Thus, in at least one exemplary monitoring operation, the server maydetermine whether it has received any request for an automated trade-invalue determination for a user vehicle 206 (e.g., as in step 402). Therequest may be sent by a user (e.g., user 202) from a mobile device(e.g., the mobile device 302, such as by using the mobile application316) The request may be an electronic message with metadata identifyingand locating the mobile device sending the electronic message. If norequest has been received, the monitoring operation may proceed to step436, which, as will be explained further below, may include determiningwhether a new reference vehicle has been identified. If a new referencevehicle has been identified, information about the reference vehicle(e.g., vehicle-specific information, multimedia content, and market ortrade-in values) may be added to the memory 121 for training or refiningprediction models, as will be further explained below. In these routineoperations, an external event (e.g., a received request for an automatedtrade-in value determination, or an identification of a new referencevehicle) may cause the server to proceed to another series of steps.

For example, if a request has been received, the server may prompt theuser to enter vehicle-specific identifying information of the vehicle(e.g., the user vehicle 206) for which the user is requesting thetrade-in value (e.g., as in step 404). The prompting may involvenotifying the user through the mobile application (e.g., mobileapplication 316). For example, the mobile application may display datafields for the user to enter the vehicle-specific identifyinginformation. These data fields may prompt the user to enter informationthrough the user interface of the mobile application (e.g., userinterface 314), for example, the make, manufacture, model, trim level,class, vehicle type, body style, color, or year of manufacture of theuser vehicle. Furthermore, the data field may prompt the user to enter avehicle identification, which can be provided by a vehicleidentification number (VIN), or an alphanumerical nameplateidentification.

The received request from the user may be logged into a database of theserver (e.g., at the user profile database 356 of server 352). Forexample, the server may create a user profile based an identification ofthe mobile device from which the user sent the request (e.g., mobiledevice identification 357). Information subsequently received from theuser via the mobile device may be linked to a user profile (e.g., userprofile 356 via linking engine 376).

The server may prompt the user to generate multimedia content (e.g.,photos, videos, etc.) of one or more aspects of the user vehicle (“firstaspects”) (e.g., as in 406) using the mobile device. The one or moreaspects of the user vehicle may include, for example, an exterior regionof the user vehicle, an interior region of the user vehicle, a damage toan exterior or interior region of the user vehicle, an engine condition,a performance of the vehicle, a brake condition, a sound of the vehicle,a vehicle accessory condition, a level of a dusting or a natural orartificial debris on the exterior region of the user vehicle, or aweather-related or environmental impact on the user vehicle, etc. Themultimedia content may include, for example, an image, an audiorecording, a video recording, and/or text. In some aspects, the user maybe instructed to capture a specific aspect of the vehicle. For example,an instruction (e.g., appearing on the user interface display 314 of themobile application 316) may prompt the user, for example, to upload aphoto of the vehicle's dashboard, upload a photo of the vehicle's rearexterior, etc. In some implementations, the mobile application mayactivate the camera or other image sensor 308 of the mobile device. Infurther implementations, the mobile application may designate an area(e.g., on the user interface display 314) where the user is prompted tocapture a photo or video of an aspect of the vehicle, such that theaspect fits or is within the designated area. The designated area may beoverlaid with a label (e.g., “please upload a photo of the dashboardhere.). Also or alternatively, the user may voluntarily generate amultimedia content of an aspect of the user vehicle based on thechoosing of the user. For example, the user may wish to submit a photoof a damage of the vehicle or of an upgrade that the user had renderedto the vehicle. The generated multimedia content may also includemetadata indicating the time, date, and/or location of the generation.

For simplicity, the one or more aspects of the vehicle captured inmultimedia content generated by the user may be referred to as “firstaspect(s).” In contrast, one or more aspects of the vehicle captured inmultimedia content generated by the staging area system in subsequentsteps may be referred to as “second aspect(s).” Nevertheless, the “firstaspects” may be at least partially duplicative of the “second aspects”of the vehicle. For example, the user may take a photo of a rearexterior of the vehicle after being prompted to do so at step 406.However, (e.g., in subsequent steps that will be explained furtherbelow) the staging area system may also take a photo (e.g., via cameras224 and 226) of the rear exterior of the user vehicle after the uservehicle has been placed in the staging area 212A. In the describedexample, the first aspect and the second aspect are the same—the rearexterior of the vehicle.

At step 408, the server may receive the vehicle-specific identifyinginformation of the vehicle and the multimedia content showing the firstaspects of the vehicle. For simplicity, information received by theserver from the mobile device after the prompting in steps 404 and 406(e.g., the vehicle-specific identifying information and the multimediacontent capturing the first aspect(s)) may be referred to as “firstdata.” In contrast, multimedia content generated by the staging areasystem in subsequent steps capturing the “second aspect(s)” may bereferred to as “second data.” Nevertheless, the “first data” may overlapwith the “second data,” as one or more of the first aspects of thevehicle may also comprise, include, or otherwise overlap with one ormore second aspects of the vehicle. The received first data may bestored at the server. For example, the vehicle-specific identifyinginformation may be stored or mapped to a known vehicle profile (e.g.,vehicle profile 358) in a vehicle profile database (e.g., vehicleprofile database 358). Thus, if the received vehicle-specificidentifying information indicates a TOYOTA as the make, COROLLA as themodel, LE as the trim level, and 2018 as the year of manufacture, theserver may look through the vehicle profile database for a vehicleprofile corresponding to a 2018 TOYOTA COROLLA LE, and may link thevehicle profile (e.g., via linking engine 376) to the user profile ofthe user and any received multimedia content associated with the uservehicle. The received multimedia content may be stored in a database(e.g., multimedia content database 364). Thus, the multimedia contentmay be linked, e.g., via linking engine 376, to the user profile of theuser that sent the request, and the vehicle profile of the vehicle, asexplained above.

At step 410, the server may determine an initial estimate of thetrade-in value of the vehicle. This initial estimate may be based on thereceived first data. For example, the server may initially obtain theoriginal value of the vehicle from the vehicle profile database based onthe vehicle profile of the vehicle. As explained above, the vehicleprofile of the user vehicle can be determined using the receivedvehicle-specific identifying information. Using the original value ofthe vehicle, the server may determine appropriate increases or decreasesbased on the characteristics of the first aspect(s) captured by themultimedia content. The server may assign weights to specific aspects ofthe vehicle such that certain aspects (e.g., engine condition) may havea greater impact to a vehicle's value than other aspects (e.g.,condition of a vehicle accessory). Furthermore, the server may rely onmachine learning and prediction models described further below todetermine the appropriate weights for the aspects of the vehicle. Theserver may present the initial estimate of the trade-in value of thevehicle to the user via the mobile application 316. The user may begiven an option to obtain an additional determination of the trade-invalue of the vehicle. The additional determination may rely on thestaging area system, which may have the advantage of providing a morethorough and/or accurate determination than may be possible with amobile device.

After providing the initial estimate, or as an alternative todetermining the initial estimate, the server may determine a stagingarea that is nearest or most accessible to the user (e.g., as in step412). For example, the server may use the location of the mobile device204 to determine the nearest staging area by calculating distances tothe locations of various staging area systems associated with stagingareas. The location of the mobile device 204 may be obtained from themetadata of the request received, e.g., in step 402. Furthermore, a listof staging area systems and their locations may be stored andperiodically updated in the staging area database 362. As will beexplained further below in relation to FIG. 5, the staging area systemassociated with the nearest staging area may be instructed by the serverto perform various steps of method 500 (e.g., as shown by marker “D”).After the nearest staging area (e.g., staging area 212A) has beendetermined, the server may prompt the user to place the user vehicle inthe staging area associated with the staging area system (e.g., as instep 414). For example, the user may receive a notification at themobile device (e.g., via the mobile application 316 of the mobile device302) that instructs the user to drive the user vehicle to the locationof the determined nearest staging area system and place the user vehiclein the corresponding staging area (e.g., staging area 212A). It iscontemplated that the user may subsequently drive the vehicle to thenearest staging area and proceed to place the vehicle in the stagingarea.

At step 416, the server may determine whether a vehicle has entered thestaging area (e.g., staging area 212A corresponding to the staging areasystem 220) determined as being the nearest to the mobile device.Further discussion of how a staging area system associated with astaging area receives instructions for, monitors, and reports whether avehicle has entered a staging area may be found in method 500 as shownin FIG. 5. The determination may be based on feedback received from thestaging area system associated with the staging area that the vehiclehas entered the staging area. The feedback may be based on image sensorsor motion detectors 214A at the staging area system detecting thepresence or entry of the vehicle. If the vehicle is not in the stagingarea, the server may continue to prompt the user to place the vehicle inthe staging area corresponding to the nearest staging area system. Theentered vehicle may not necessarily be the user vehicle, however. Thus,if the server determines that a vehicle has entered the staging area,the server may authenticate the vehicle. Also or alternatively, thestaging area system associated with the staging area may authenticatethe vehicle. For example, a user driving the user vehicle into thestaging area may be prompted to enter a passcode sent to the mobiledevice (e.g., mobile device 204) when the user was prompted to place theuser vehicle in the staging area. The passcode may be entered at thestaging area system, e.g., at a user interface or keypad adjacent to thestaging area. If the passcode is correct, the entered vehicle may beauthenticated as being the user vehicle. The staging area system and/orthe server may authenticate the entered vehicle as being the uservehicle by image recognition of the entered vehicle. An image of theentered vehicle may be compared with images of vehicles belonging to thevehicle profile of the user vehicle. If the images match to a degree ofsimilarity, the entered vehicle may be authenticated as being the uservehicle. In such and other scenarios, the server may be notified if theentered vehicle has been authenticated as indeed being the user vehicle.If the authentication is not successful, however, the server may informthe staging area system that a “wrong vehicle” has entered thecorresponding staging area (e.g., as in step 420). The staging areasystem may prompt the driver of the wrong vehicle to remove the wrongvehicle from the staging area, e.g., by way of a display or warningsound. The user that had originally initiated the request may continueto be prompted to place the user vehicle into the staging area (e.g.,staging area 212A).

At step 422, if the authentication is successful, the server mayauthorize the staging area system to generate multimedia content showingsecond aspect(s) of the vehicle. As explained previously, the “secondaspects” need not be distinct from the “first aspects” of the vehicle.For example, if the user had previously submitted a photo of a rearexterior of the vehicle after being prompted to do so at step 406, thestaging area system may also take a photo (e.g., via its cameras) of therear exterior of the vehicle, but could also take photos of otheraspects of the vehicle that were not captured previously by the user.The staging area system may generate the multimedia content through itsone or more instruments, as described in FIG. 2. For example, cameras224 and 226 placed at the side of the staging area 212A may capture sideviews of the user vehicle. Likewise, a camera hovering at the top of astaging area (not shown) may capture the top view of the user vehicle orcould capture the dashboard of the user vehicle. Furthermore, the usermay be prompted to perform various functions to the user vehicle inorder to assist the staging area system in generating the appropriatemultimedia content capturing the appropriate second aspects. Forexample, the user may be prompted to start its engine, press the gaspedal, activate blinkers or other lights or accessories, or performother such functions. These functions may allow the staging area systemto obtain audio recordings of the engine sound (e.g., via its audiorecorder 228), or obtain videos, e.g., of blinkers or accessorymovements. The various aspects of the vehicle described above are notcomprehensive. After capturing the second data (e.g., characteristics ofthe second aspects of the vehicle captured through the generatedmultimedia content), the second data may be sent to the server, e.g.,via communications module 230 over the network.

At step 424, the server may thus receive the second data (e.g.,multimedia content generated by the staging area systems and showing thesecond aspect(s) of the user vehicle). The received multimedia contentmay be stored in a database (e.g., multimedia content database 364).Metadata associated with the multimedia content may indicate, forexample: the aspect of the vehicle being captured; the time, date, orlocation of the multimedia content generation; the vehicle associatedwith the multimedia content; and/or the source of the multimedia content(e.g., staging area system or instrument). The stored multimedia contentmay be linked, e.g., via the linking engine 376, to the vehicle profileof the vehicle whose aspect the multimedia content captures, or to theuser profile of the user associated with the vehicle. The receivedmultimedia content from the staging area systems may be referred to assecond data to distinguish from the first data that includes multimediacontent received from the mobile device.

Having received the first data and second data, the server may begin itsautomated determination of the trade-in value of the vehicle (e.g., asshown by marker “C”). FIG. 4B depicts the second portion of method 400(e.g., method 400B), of which one or more steps or portions of themethod are directed to using machine learning and other predictionsmodels to automatically determine the trade-in value of the uservehicle. Furthermore, one or more steps or portions of method 400Cdepicted in FIG. 4B may also be directed to the training of such machinelearning or prediction models based on reference training data.

For example, at step 426, the server may create a feature vectorcomprising the first data (vehicle-specific identifying information andmultimedia content generated by the mobile device) and the second data(multimedia content generated by the staging area systems). A featurevector may be a set of numerical features, e.g., first data, arranged asa mathematical vector, matrix, or the like. Thus, if the multimediacontent were to comprise images of various aspects of the vehicle, therespective images for each aspect of the vehicle may be aggregated anddigitized as image data. For example, images that the mobile devicegenerated of the vehicle's rear exterior may be aggregated with theimages that the staging area system took of the user vehicle's rearexterior. The feature vector may comprise image data for each aspect ofthe vehicle, and provide a variable or an initial value for the weightattributed to each aspect of the vehicle. In some aspects, features maybe arranged as feature matrices in addition to or as an alternative tofeature vectors.

The server may then identify a trained prediction model from a pluralityof prediction models, based on the vehicle-specific identifyinginformation of the user vehicle (e.g., as in step 428). Thevehicle-specific identifying information provided by the user may beused to identify a vehicle profile, e.g., from the vehicle profiledatabase 358, as previously explained, and the server may have storedtrained prediction models corresponding to each vehicle profile orcategory of profiles. Steps 436-450, as will be explained further below,may depict an example process for training such prediction models.Examples of prediction models may include supervised machine learningalgorithms that rely on a training dataset. Thus, prediction models mayinclude, but are not limited to artificial and deep neural networks(including convolutional neural networks), image classification,multivariate regression, multilayer perceptrons, support vectormachines, random forests, etc.

As will be explained further below, prediction models may be trained andstored for each vehicle profile or category of vehicle profiles. Forexample, there may be a prediction model for predicting the trade-invalue for a 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY LE or a prediction model for predictingthe trade-in value for just a 2018 TOYOTA. It is contemplated that insome aspects, the level of specificity of a vehicle profile may resultin a more accurate prediction model. However, the availability oftrained prediction models for a desired level of specificity of avehicle profile may depend on the availability of reference information(e.g., available multimedia content, known market or trade-in values) onvehicles belonging to the desired level of specificity of the vehicleprofile. For example, in order to build a prediction model that couldaccurately predict the trade-in value for a 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY LE, thetraining of the prediction model may rely on reference multimediacontent (e.g., reference photos and videos) of a plurality of 2018TOYOTA CAMRY LE vehicles and known market or trade-in values for each ofthe plurality of 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY LE vehicles. However, while there maybe a sufficient quantity of reference multimedia content or known marketor trade-in values for the 2018 TOYOTA vehicles, there may notnecessarily be a sufficient quantity of reference multimedia content orknown market or trade-in values for the 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY LE vehicles.In the described example, the server may not necessarily be able togenerate an accurate prediction model for predicting the trade-in valuefor a 2018 TOYOTA CAMRY LE.

At step 430, the server may input the feature vector into the predictionmodel (identified in step 428). The prediction models may comprisesupervised machine learning algorithms, which may be trained usingtraining data comprising domain data and range data. The domain data mayinclude multimedia content from a plurality of vehicles belonging to avehicle profile or category of vehicle profile. The range data mayinclude the trade-in value or market value for each of the plurality ofvehicles. Thus, the prediction models may be based on learnedrelationships between the domain data (e.g., multimedia content of a oneor more aspects of a vehicle) to the range data (e.g., the value of thevehicle). Inputting the feature vector may include applying the learnedrelationships. In some aspects, applying the learned relationships mayinvolve assigning weights to various aspects of the vehicle to determinethe trade-in value. Thus, at step 432, the server may determine, basedon the trained prediction mode, the trade-in value of the user vehicle.The determined trade-in value may be sent to the mobile device of theuser (e.g., as in step 436). For example, the determined trade-in valuemay be displayed on the mobile application. The various aspects of thevehicle and the characteristics of the aspects that contributed to thetrade-in value may be displayed.

In some implementations, the initial estimate of the value of thevehicle (e.g., from step 410) may be used in the determination of thetrade-in value of the vehicle at step 432. For example, the initialestimate may be used to assign preliminary weights or priors in theformation of the feature vector. Also or alternatively, the initialestimate and the first data comprising the multimedia content may beused as part of the training data for the vehicle profile of which thevehicle is a part of.

Referring now to method 400C also shown in FIG. 4B, one or more steps orportions of method 400C may be directed to the training of predictionmodels based on reference training data. The prediction models may bestored, e.g., for subsequent identification or retrieval at step 428.Furthermore, method 400C may be performed by the server as part ofroutine operations if the server identifies or detects a new referencevehicle (e.g., as in step 436). The server may periodically update adatabase (e.g., database of vehicle profiles 358), for example, byreceiving and saving reference information (e.g., multimedia content,values, etc.) of reference vehicles. This reference information may bemanually entered into the server, or may be sent to the server viaexternal systems (e.g., computing systems of manufacturers, dealerships,vehicle systems 334, etc.). A vehicle or reference vehicle may be deemedby the server to be “new” if there is no corresponding vehicle profilefor it saved in a vehicle database (e.g., vehicle database 358). Forexample, if a vehicle manufacturer, such as TESLA, just launched a brandnew model, the server may not have a record of a vehicle profilecorresponding to TESLA's brand new model. Such information may beprovided to the server by a computing system associated with TESLA ormay be manually entered into the server. If no new reference vehicle hasbeen identified or detected, the server may continue the previouslydescribed operations for monitoring any received requests (e.g., as instep 402).

If a new reference vehicle has been identified or detected, the servermay receive reference vehicle-specific identifying information andmultimedia content for one or more aspects of the reference vehicle(e.g., as in step 438). The reference vehicle-specific identifyinginformation (which may comprise the same information as thevehicle-specific identifying information received from the mobile device302 of the user 202 for the vehicle) may include information for one ormore of the make, manufacture, model, trim level, class, vehicle type,body style, color, or year of manufacture of a vehicle. The referencevehicle-specific identifying information may be used to create or updatea vehicle profile, or link information to a currently existing vehicleprofile. The one or more aspects of the reference vehicle may include,for example, an exterior region of the user vehicle, an interior regionof the user vehicle, a damage to an exterior or interior region of theuser vehicle, an engine condition, a brake condition, a vehicleaccessory condition, a dusting or a natural or artificial debris on theexterior region of the user vehicle, or a weather-related orenvironmental impact on the user vehicle, etc. Furthermore, the one ormore aspects of the reference vehicle may correspond with, overlap, orinclude the first aspect and second aspect of the user vehicle.

The multimedia content may include, for example, an image, an audiorecording, a video recording, and/or text. The server may also receive amarket or trade-in value for the reference vehicle (e.g., as in step440). It is contemplated that brand new vehicles, for which the servermay not yet have a recorded vehicle profile for, may not necessarilyhave a trade-in value that is different from the market value.Nevertheless, the market value can be used to build prediction modelsthat determine relationships between conditions of one or more aspectsof a vehicle captured by multimedia content to the economic value of thevehicle.

At step 442, the server may create a feature vector comprising thereference vehicle-specific identifying information and the referencedata of the one or more aspects. For example, if the multimedia contentwere to comprise images of various aspects of the reference vehicle, therespective images for each aspect of the reference vehicle may beaggregated and digitized as image data. The feature vector may compriseimage data for each aspect of the reference vehicle, and provide avariable or an initial value for the weight attributed to each aspect ofthe vehicle. Other arrangements of the features as an alternative to oras an addition to, feature vectors may be used, e.g., feature matrices.

At step 444, the server may associate the feature vector to the actualvalue (e.g., economic, market, or trade-in value) of the vehicle. In thecontext of supervised machine learning and other prediction models, thedomain data may comprise the feature vector, and range data may comprisethe actual value of the reference vehicle. At step 446, the server mayuse the associated feature vectors to train a prediction model.Depending on the type of prediction model that is being trained, thetraining may involve one or more iterations of using various weights ortesting various mathematical relations before a prediction model hasbeen reached. The prediction model would be able to input a givenfeature vector have one or more aspects for a specific vehicle profileor category of profiles, and would be able to output a trade-in value.As previously discussed, the prediction models may include, but are notlimited to artificial and deep neural networks (including convolutionalneural networks), image classification, multivariate regression,multilayer perceptrons, support vector machines, random forests, etc.The trained prediction model may be stored, e.g., for future retrievalbased on vehicle-specific identifying information (e.g., as in step448). After training a prediction model for the reference vehicle, theserver 352 may continue previously described monitoring operations (e.g.monitoring whether any new reference vehicles have been identified, asin step 436, or detecting vehicles as in step 436, or determiningwhether any requests have been received, as in step 402).

FIG. 5 shows an example method 500 performed by one or more staging areasystems (e.g., staging area system 318) for facilitating an automatedtrade-in of vehicles with limited human interaction. As discussedpreviously, the staging area systems may comprise one or moreinstruments for generating content pertaining to a vehicle and sendingsuch content to the server. Furthermore, the staging area systems maycomprises one or more devices or computing systems receivinginstructions from the server 352, directing the instruments to generatecontent based on the instructions, receiving such content from theinstruments, and sending such content to the server. Each staging areasystem may be associated with one or more staging areas (e.g., stagingareas 212A-212B) where a vehicle may be placed. For simplicity, astaging area system may refer to a central device or computing system(e.g., staging area system 220) at or near the associated staging areas(e.g., staging areas 212A-212B) that received data obtained from thevarious instruments of the staging areas (e.g., instruments 320). Alsoor alternatively, a staging area system may refer to any one or more ofthe instruments that might have the capacity to communicate with theserver. It is contemplated that prior to performing method 500, thestaging area system may be connected to the server (e.g., overcommunication network 390).

The staging area system may begin method 500 by running routineoperations of monitoring whether it has received any new instructionsfrom the server (e.g., as in step 502), and/or calibrating itsinstruments, e.g., based on sunlight or time of day. Thus, in oneaspect, as shown in FIG. 5, if no new instructions are received, thestaging area system may calibrate or continue to calibrate itsinstruments. For example, the staging area system may comprise a sensorthat detects or measures changes in sunlight intensity (e.g., sunlightsensor 324), in order to provide the optimal illumination for cameras orother image sensors (e.g., cameras 322). Thus, at step 504, the stagingarea system (e.g., via its sunlight sensor 324) may determine whetherthe sunlight intensity delta has exceeded a predetermined threshold. Atstep 506, if the sunlight intensity delta has exceeded, the staging areasystem may adjust its illumination (e.g., via lights 332) of the stagingarea. The adjustment may involve increasing or decreasing the brightnessof lamps that illuminate the staging area. By adjusting theillumination, the staging area system can ensure that multimediacontent, such as images or videos that capture various aspects of avehicle, remain reliable in accurately showing the characteristics ofthe various aspects despite fluctuating sunlight. Furthermore, if newinstructions are received, the staging area system may begin operationsfor facilitating the automated trade-in value determination of avehicle. In some aspects, steps involved with monitoring environmentalcues and adjusting illumination may continue to occur as a backgroundprocess, whether or not new instructions are received at step 502.

If new instructions are received from the server, the staging areasystem may determine what instructions have been received. For example,at step 508, the staging area system may determine whether it hasreceived instruction to allow a vehicle to enter the staging area (e.g.,staging area 212A associated with the staging area system 318). If not,or alternatively, the staging area system may determine, at step 516,whether it has received instruction to generate multimedia content. Insome implementations, the determinations in steps 508 and 516 may beperformed in parallel.

If the server has provided instructions to allow the vehicle to enterthe staging area (e.g., staging area 212A), the staging area system maydisplay an indication (e.g., indication 216) to enter the staging areaat step 510. For example, the staging area system may cause the trafficsignal system (e.g., traffic signal system 328) to display a text (e.g.,“Go,” “Enter,” etc.) or a color signal (e.g., green) to indicate to auser to drive a vehicle into the staging area. The staging area systemmay also or subsequently determine, at step 512, whether it has detecteda vehicle in the staging area. In some aspects, the indication to entermay continue to occur until a vehicle has been detected in the stagingarea (e.g., staging areas 212A-212B). The detection may occur by way ofan image sensor (e.g., image sensors 214A-214B) that detects thepresence of a large object (e.g., vehicle) on the staging area, a heatsensor that detects the heat of the vehicle, or a motion sensor thatdetects the entry of the vehicle.

Upon detection, the staging area system may send a signal or indicator(e.g., feedback) that a vehicle has been detected at step 514. In someaspects, the detected vehicle may be authenticated to be the uservehicle. Such aspects may involve having the user enter in a code, abiometric input, or other such mechanism to allow the server to validatethe detected vehicle as being the user vehicle.

If staging area system has received an instruction the generatemultimedia content, the staging area system 318, at step 518, may causeits instruments to capture multimedia content showing one or moreaspects of the user vehicle 206 that is positioned at the staging area212A-212B. The one or more aspects (e.g., second aspect(s)) captured bythe multimedia content generated by the staging area system may or maynot necessarily be the same as the first aspect(s) captured by themultimedia content generated by the mobile device. In some aspects, theserver may directly cause one or more instruments to generate themultimedia content depending on the aspect of the vehicle that theserver wishes to capture. For example, the server may directly cause acamera positioned above the vehicle to take a photo of the top exteriorof the vehicle. At step 520, the generated multimedia content (e.g.,second data) may be sent to the server, e.g., over a communicationsnetwork (e.g., communications network 390 via the communications module230). After sending the data, the vehicle may exit the staging area toallow the staging area system to perform the aforementioned functionsagain for other vehicles. In some aspects, the staging area system maydisplay an indication to the user to exist the staging area (e.g., atextual display saying “please exit now”). As discussed previously, itis contemplated that one or more steps or portions of method 500 wouldbe performed by the staging area system while the server performs method400.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram of an example method 600 for trackingreadiness of vehicles (e.g., for test-drive, rental use, lease, etc.)with limited human interaction, in accordance with one or moreillustrative aspects discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 6 shows anexample method 600 of which one or more steps or portions can beperformed by a server (e.g., computing device 101, server 202, serversystem 352, or other computing system) that tracks the readiness ofvehicles with limited human interaction. As will be explained furtherbelow, FIG. 7 shows an example method 700 of which one or more steps orportions can be performed by a staging area system (e.g., (e.g.,computing device 105, staging area system 220, staging area system318)). One or more steps or portions of method 600 may be performed bythe server simultaneously as one or more steps or portions of method 700are being performed by the staging area system.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the server may begin method 600 by receiving arequest to test-drive, rent, and/or lease a vehicle (e.g., user vehicle206). It is contemplated that the server may be connected to externalsystems (e.g., mobile devices 302, vehicle systems 334, staging areasystems 318, vehicle manufacturer and/or dealership systems, etc.) overa communications network (e.g., communication network 390) for suchroutine monitoring operations to occur. The request may be received froma mobile device (e.g., the mobile device 302 of user 202). As explainedpreviously, the mobile application (e.g., readiness tracker 370) of theuser's mobile device may be a medium through which communicationsbetween the user and the server may take place. The request may be anelectronic message with metadata identifying and locating the mobiledevice sending the electronic message. In some aspects, the request mayinclude vehicle-specific identifying information of the vehicle (e.g.,vehicle 206). For example, the request may include a VIN, nameplate,label, inventory information, or other identification of the vehicle.The server may use such vehicle-specific identifying information toretrieve and/or determine additional vehicle-specific identifyinginformation of the vehicle (e.g., make, model, class, type, trim level,body style, color, year of manufacture, etc.) requested for test-drive,rental use, and/or lease. In other aspects, the user may be prompted(e.g., via the mobile application 316) to supply vehicle-specificidentifying information. Thus, the server may determine vehicle-specificidentifying information of the vehicle (e.g., as in step 604).

At step 606, the user may be prompted to place the vehicle within astaging area (e.g., staging area 212A). For example, the server may usethe location of the mobile device to determine a staging area system(e.g., staging area system 220) that is closest to the mobile device.The server may calculate distances between the locations of variousstaging area systems and the mobile device, and pick the staging areasystem based on the shortest distance. The location of the mobile devicemay be obtained from the metadata of the request received, e.g., in step602. For example, metadata comprising the location of the mobile devicemay be obtained via location sensors 306 on the mobile device 302.Furthermore, a list of staging area systems and their locations may bestored and periodically updated in a database (e.g., the staging areadatabase 362). Thus, after the nearest staging area (e.g., staging area212A) has been determined, the server may prompt the user to place thevehicle in the staging area associated with the staging area system(e.g., as in step 606). For example, the user may receive a notificationat the mobile device (e.g., via mobile application 316) that instructsthe user to drive the vehicle to the location of the determined neareststaging area system and place the vehicle in the corresponding stagingarea (e.g., staging area 212A). It is contemplated that the user maysubsequently drive the vehicle to the nearest staging area system andproceed to place the vehicle in the staging area associated with thenearest staging area system to begin test drive or initiate a rental useor lease of the vehicle. In some aspects, the staging area that the userdrives the vehicle prior to a test drive, rental use, or lease (e.g.,staging area 212A) may be different from the staging area that the userdrives the vehicle to at the end of the test drive, rental use, or lease(e.g., staging area 212B). For simplicity, “first staging area” (e.g.,staging area 212A) may be used to refer to the former whereas “secondstaging area” (e.g., staging area 212B) may be used to refer to thelatter. Nevertheless, in one or more aspects, the first staging area maycomprise or be the same as the second staging area. Furthermore, in someaspects, the first staging area and the second staging area may beassociated with the same staging area system (e.g., staging area system220, as shown in FIG. 2).

Subsequently, the server may determine whether the vehicle has enteredthe first staging area (e.g., staging area 212A corresponding to thestaging area system 220). This may involve determining whether theserver has received an indication that the vehicle entered the firststaging area (e.g., as in step 608). Further discussion of how a stagingarea system associated with one or more staging areas receivesinstructions for, monitors, and reports whether a vehicle has enteredthe one or more staging areas may be found in method 700 as shown inFIG. 7. The feedback may be based on image sensors or motion detectorsat the first staging area detecting the presence or entry of the vehicle(e.g., as in sensor 214A). If the vehicle is not in the first stagingarea, the server may continue to prompt the user to place the vehicle inthe first staging area. The entered vehicle may not necessarily be theuser vehicle, however. Thus, if the server determines that a vehicle hasentered the first staging area, the server and/or the staging areasystem may authenticate the vehicle in step 610. For example, a userdriving the vehicle into the first staging area may be prompted to entera passcode sent to the mobile device (e.g., mobile device 204) when theuser was prompted to place the user vehicle in the first staging area.The passcode may be entered at the staging area system, e.g., at a userinterface or keypad adjacent to the staging area. If the passcode iscorrect, the entered vehicle may be authenticated as being the uservehicle. The staging area system and/or the server may authenticate theentered vehicle as being the user vehicle by image recognition of theentered vehicle. For example, each vehicle designated for a test drive,rental use, or lease may have a QR code affixed to it that may bescanned by an image sensor of the staging area system to ensure that theentered vehicle is the correct vehicle requested for test-drive, rentaluse, or lease. In such and other scenarios, the server may be notifiedif the entered vehicle has been authenticated as indeed being the uservehicle. If the authentication is not successful, however, the servermay inform the staging area system, at step 612, that a “wrong vehicle”has entered the corresponding staging area.

At step 614, if the authentication is successful, the server mayauthorize or prompt the staging area system to generate multimediacontent showing one or more aspects of the user vehicle prior to thetest-drive, rental use period, or lease period. As will be explainedfurther below, after the test-drive period, rental use period, or leaseperiod, the staging area system may again be authorized or prompted togenerate multimedia content of the one or more aspects of the vehicle.For simplicity and clarity, “first multimedia content” may refer to thegenerated multimedia content before the test-drive, rental use, orlease, and “second multimedia content” may refer to the generatedmultimedia content after the test drive, rental use, or lease. In someaspects, the prompting or authorizing of the staging area system togenerate the first multimedia content may involve identifying the one ormore aspects of the vehicle for which multimedia content is requested.

After being prompted or authorized to generate the first multimediacontent at step 614, the staging area system may proceed to generatemultimedia content as will be explained in method 700 shown in FIG. 7.It is contemplated that the one or more aspects for which the firstmultimedia content is taken may overlap or may be the same one or moreaspects of the vehicle for which the second multimedia content will betaken (e.g., after the test drive, rental use, or lease). By using thesame or overlapping aspects of the vehicle, a reliable comparison can bemade between the first multimedia content and the second multimediacontent to track the readiness of the vehicle.

The staging area system may generate multimedia content, e.g., bydirecting instruments 320 to obtain images (e.g., via its cameras 224and 226) of one or more aspects the vehicle. The staging area system maygenerate the multimedia content through its one or more instruments 320,as described in FIG. 2. For example, cameras 224 and 226 placed at theside of the staging area may capture side views of the user vehicle.Likewise, a camera hovering at the top of a staging area may capture thetop view of the vehicle or could capture the dashboard of the vehicle.Furthermore, the user may be prompted to perform various functions tothe vehicle in order to assist the staging area system in generating theappropriate multimedia content capturing the appropriate one or moreaspects. For example, the user may be prompted to start its engine,press the gas pedal, activate blinkers or other lights or accessories,or perform other such functions. These functions may allow the stagingarea system to obtain audio recordings of the engine sound (e.g., viaits audio recorder), or obtain videos, e.g., of blinkers or accessorymovements. The various aspects of the vehicle described above are notcomprehensive.

At step 616, the generated first multimedia content may be sent to, andreceived by, the server, e.g., via communications module 230 over thecommunications network 390. The received first multimedia content may bestored in a database (e.g., multimedia content database 364). Metadataassociated with the multimedia content may indicate, for example: theaspect of the vehicle being captured; the time, date, or location of themultimedia content generation; the vehicle associated with themultimedia content; the user profile or ID of the user test-driving thevehicle, and/or the source of the multimedia content (e.g., staging areasystem or instrument). Thus, the server may also receive, among otherdata, a time of the generation of the first multimedia content, at step616. The stored first multimedia content may be linked (e.g., via thelinking engine 376) to the vehicle profile of the vehicle whose aspectthe multimedia content captures, or to the user profile of the userassociated with the vehicle. The stored first multimedia content mayeventually be linked to the second multimedia content to be receivedafter the test drive, rental use, or lease, as will be explained furtherbelow.

It is contemplated that once the first multimedia content has beengenerated and sent to the server, the user may proceed to test drive thevehicle or initiate the rental use or lease of the vehicle. The stagingarea system may indicate to the user, e.g., via a display or the trafficsignal system 328, to exit the staging area to begin the test drive. Insome aspects, the server may inform the user (e.g., via mobileapplication 316) of the duration or remaining time for the test drive,rental use period, or lease period. Furthermore, the user can alsoindicate (e.g., via an input into the mobile application 316) an intentto end a test drive session, rental use period, or lease period.

At step 618, the server may prompt the user to place the vehicle withina second staging area (e.g., staging area 212B) after the test drive,rental use, or lease. For example, mobile application 316 (e.g.,readiness tracker 370) may remind the user during the test drive, rentaluse period, or lease period to return the user vehicle after the testdrive, rental use period, and/or lease period to the second stagingarea. In some aspects, the server may guide the vehicle to the secondstaging area, for example, using location sensor 306 in the mobiledevice 302 or a GPS device 342 the vehicle to navigate. In some aspects,the user may be prompted to return the vehicle to the second stagingarea after the user has indicated an end to the test-drive session,rental use period, or lease period (e.g., via mobile application 316).It is contemplated that after this prompting, the user may drive thevehicle and park it within the second staging area to end test-drive,rental use, or lease. As discussed above, the second staging area (e.g.,staging area 212B) may or may not be the same as the first staging area(e.g., staging area 212A). Furthermore, the first staging area and thesecond staging area need not be associated with the same staging areasystem.

Subsequently, the server may determine whether the vehicle has enteredthe second staging area. This may involve determining whether the serverhas received an indication that the vehicle entered the second stagingarea (e.g., as in step 620). As will be discussed in conjunction withmethod 700 shown in FIG. 7, the determination may be based on feedbackreceived from the staging area system 318 that the vehicle has enteredthe second staging area. The feedback may be based on image sensors ormotion detectors at the staging area system detecting the presence orentry of the vehicle (e.g., as in sensor 214B). If the vehicle is not inthe second staging area, the server may continue to prompt the user toplace the vehicle in the second staging area.

In some implementations, the returning vehicle may also be subjected toan authentication process, as discussed in steps 610 and 612, to ensurethat a vehicle that entered the second staging area is indeed the uservehicle returning after the test-drive, rental use, or lease. In suchimplementations, if an authentication is not successful, the server mayinform the staging area system that a “wrong vehicle” has entered thecorresponding staging area.

At step 622, the server may authorize or prompt the staging area systemassociated with the second staging area to generate second multimediacontent showing one or more aspects of the vehicle. The one or moreaspects of the vehicle captured by the second multimedia content at step622 may be the same as or may overlap with the one or more aspects ofthe vehicle captured by the first multimedia content prior to thetest-drive, rental use, or lease. For example, if the first multimediacontent comprised images of the user vehicle's top exterior, rearexterior, side exterior, and front exterior before the test-drive,rental use, or lease, then the second multimedia content may alsocomprise images of the user vehicle's top exterior, rear exterior, sideexterior, and front exterior after the test drive. In the describedexample, the top exterior, rear exterior, side exterior, and frontexterior after the test-drive, rental use, or lease may be the one ormore aspects of the user vehicle. In some aspects, the prompting orauthorizing of the staging area system to generate the second multimediacontent may involve identifying the one or more aspects of the uservehicle for which multimedia content is requested, and directing variousinstruments of the staging area system to generate multimedia contentcapturing the identified one or more aspects. The server may rely on amemory of the one or more aspects captured in the first multimediacontent and received by the server at step 616. For example, the servermay query the multimedia content database 364 to identify the one ormore aspects captured in the first multimedia content.

After being prompted or authorized to generate the second multimediacontent at step 622, the staging area system may proceed to generatemultimedia content as will be explained in method 700 shown in FIG. 7.By using the same or overlapping aspects of the vehicle, a reliablecomparison can be made between the first multimedia content and thesecond multimedia content to track the readiness of the vehicle (e.g.,for a subsequent test-drive, a subsequent rental use, a subsequentlease, etc.).

At step 624, the generated second multimedia content may be sent to, andreceived by, the server (e.g., via communications module 230 over thecommunications network 390). The received second multimedia content maybe stored in a database (e.g., multimedia content database 364).Metadata associated with the multimedia content may indicate, forexample: the aspect of the vehicle being captured; the time, date, orlocation of the multimedia content generation; the vehicle associatedwith the multimedia content; the user profile or ID of the usertest-driving the user vehicle; and/or the source of the multimediacontent (e.g., staging area system or instrument). Thus, the server mayalso receive, among other data, a time of the generation of the secondmultimedia content, at step 624. The stored second multimedia contentmay be linked (e.g., via the linking engine 376) to the vehicle profileof the vehicle whose aspect the multimedia content captures, or to theuser profile of the user associated with the vehicle. Furthermore, thesecond multimedia content may also be linked (e.g., via linking engine376) to the stored first multimedia content received prior to thetest-drive, rental use, or lease. By linking the first multimediacontent and the second multimedia content, one or more processors (e.g.,processor 111) may be able to efficiently analyze the one or moreaspects of the vehicle to assess the readiness of the returned vehicle.

Thus, at step 626, the server may analyze the first multimedia contentand the second multimedia content to determine differences in the one ormore aspects of the vehicle.

In at least one implementation, at step 628, the server may input imagedata corresponding to the first multimedia content (“first image data”)and image data corresponding to second multimedia content (“second imagedata”) into a machine learning model. Additional information (e.g., timeof the generation of the respective multimedia content) may also beinputted into the machine learning model to better track the one or moreaspects. For example, it is contemplated that if second multimediacontent was generated after a significantly longer time from thegeneration of the first multimedia content, the one or more aspectscaptured by the first and second multimedia content may show a greaterdifferent, change, wear, or degradation. In some aspects, step 628 mayinvolve initially identifying, from a plurality of machine learningmodels, a machine learning model corresponding to the vehicle-specificidentifying information of the user vehicle. The vehicle-specificidentifying information may be used to identify a vehicle profile from adatabase (e.g., vehicle profile database 358). The server may havestored trained prediction models corresponding to each vehicle profileor category of profiles. At step 630, the machine learning model may beused to determine an indicia of similarity between the first image dataand the second image data. The indicia of similarity may be aquantitative metric that measures how similar or how different twoseparately generated multimedia content are in describing the sameaspect of a vehicle.

In a further implementation, analyzing the first multimedia content andthe second multimedia content through the machine learning model mayinvolve forming input feature vectors. For example, the server maycreate a first input vector comprising first image data corresponding tothe first multimedia content, and a second input vector comprisingsecond image data corresponding to the second multimedia content. Afirst set of weights may be applied to the first input vector and asecond set of weights may be applied to the second input vector. Thevalues of the weights may change through the machine learning process.An artificial neural network may be used to generate an output vector toindicating an indicia of similarity between the first multimedia contentand the second multimedia content.

Based on the differences between the first multimedia content and thesecond multimedia content for each of the one or more aspects of theuser vehicle, the server may generate an assessment of the readiness ofthe user vehicle in step 632. In some implementations, the assessmentneed not rely on machine learning algorithm (e.g., bypassing steps 628and 630).

At step 634, the server may determine whether the assessment of thereadiness satisfies a similarity threshold. If the assessment of thereadiness does not satisfy the threshold, the server may trigger analert prompting attention to the vehicle 206 at step 636. For example,this alert may be a notification sent to the user (e.g., on mobileapplication 316 of mobile device 302 of the user 202). Also oralternatively, the alert may be sent to a computing system associatedwith a vehicle manufacturer and/or dealership. The alert may inform themanufacturer and/or dealership to service the vehicle, e.g., to improvethe vehicle's readiness.

FIG. 7 shows an example method 700 performed by a staging area system(e.g., staging area system 318) for tracking the readiness of vehicles(e.g., for test-drive, rental use, lease, etc.) with limited humaninteraction. As discussed previously, the staging area system maycomprise one or more instruments for generating content pertaining to avehicle and sending such content to the server. Furthermore, the stagingarea system may comprise one or more devices or computing systemsreceiving instructions from the server, directing the instruments togenerate content based on the instructions, receiving such content fromthe instruments, and sending such content to the server. The stagingarea system may be associated with one or more staging areas (e.g.,staging areas 212A-212B) where the vehicle may be placed. Forsimplicity, the staging area system may refer to a central device orcomputing system (e.g., staging area system 220 as shown in FIG. 2, andstaging area system 318 as also shown in FIG. 3) at or near the stagingarea(s) that received data obtained from the various instruments of thestaging areas (e.g., instruments 320). Also or alternatively, a stagingarea system may refer to any one or more of the instruments that mighthave the capacity to communicate with the server. It is contemplatedthat prior to performing method 700, the staging area system may beconnected to the server (e.g., over communication network).

The staging area system may begin method 700 by running routineoperations of monitoring for signals from the server and/or mobiledevice related to a test-drive, rental use, or lease of a vehicle (e.g.,as in steps 702 and 716), and/or calibrating its instruments, e.g.,based on sunlight or time of day. Thus, in one aspect, if no suchsignals are received, the staging area system may calibrate or continueto calibrate its instruments. For example, the staging area system maycomprise a sensor that detects or measures changes in sunlight intensity(e.g., sunlight sensor 324), in order to provide the optimalillumination for cameras or other image sensors. Thus, at step 730, thestaging area system (e.g., via its sunlight sensor 324) may determinewhether the sunlight intensity delta has exceeded a predeterminedthreshold. The predetermined threshold may be a predefined number ofdetected lumens. If the sunlight intensity delta has exceeded thepredetermined threshold, the staging area system, at step 732, mayadjust its illumination of the associated staging areas. The adjustmentmay involve increasing or decreasing the brightness of lamps (e.g.,lamps 220A-220B) that illuminate the associated staging areas. Byadjusting the illumination, the staging area system may have theadvantage of enabling multimedia content, such as images or videos thatcapture various aspects of a vehicle, to be more reliable for accuratelyshowing the characteristics of the various aspects of the vehicle (e.g.,despite fluctuating sunlight). For example, if a photo was taken of avehicle before a test-drive at dawn, and a photo was taken of thevehicle after the test-drive at mid-day, a calibrated illumination ofthe staging areas may have the advantage of reducing any unwantedvariables (e.g., image artifacts) caused by the mid-day sun. Removingthe effects of the sun on the actual image would help in making areliable comparison between multimedia content captured before and aftera period for a test-drive, rental use, or lease. Further, if signalsrelated to a test-drive, rental use, or lease are detected or received,the staging area system may begin operations for tracking the readinessvehicles. In some aspects, steps involved with monitoring environmentalcues and adjusting illumination may continue to occur as a backgroundprocess.

The signals may include an indication that a new test-drive, new rentaluse, or a new lease has been requested by the user or an indication thata test-drive, rental use period, or lease period is ending. The signalsmay be detected or received. The server may notify the staging areasystem of a new request, for example, if the staging area system is thenearest to the mobile device of the user that sent the request. Thestaging area system can also be notified of a new request if the stagingarea system is designated for the vehicle that is requested for thetest-drive. For simplicity, it can be assumed that detecting orreceiving an indication of a new request involves the staging areasystem 318, e.g., due to its proximity to the mobile device of the useror due to its association with the vehicle requested. In some aspects,the staging area system may routinely check the server to determinewhether a new request (e.g., to test-drive, rent, or lease a vehicle)has been processed. Thus, at step 702, the staging area system maydetermine whether there is a new request, based on a signal receivedfrom the server and/or otherwise based on a communication with theserver. If not, or alternatively, the staging area system may determine,in step 716, whether there is an indication that a test-drive, rentaluse period, or lease period is ending. In some implementations, thedeterminations in steps 702 and 716 may be performed in parallel.

If there is an indication of a new request, and the staging area systemis associated with the request, the staging area system may display, instep 704, an indication to enter the staging area. For example, thestaging area system may cause traffic signal system 328 to display atext (e.g., “Go,” “Enter,” etc.) or a color signal (e.g., green) toindicate to a user to drive vehicle 206 into the staging area 212A. Itis also contemplated that the server may have provided instructions tothe user (e.g., via mobile application 316) to enter the staging areaassociated with the staging area system (e.g., “first staging area”). Aspreviously discussed, the first staging area (e.g., staging area 212A)may refer to the staging area that the user drives the vehicle prior toinitiating a test-drive, a rental use, or a lease, whereas a secondstaging area (e.g., staging area 212B) may refer to the staging areathat the user drives the vehicle to at the end of the test-drive, therental use period, or the lease period. The first staging area maycomprise or be the same as the second staging area. For simplicity, thestaging area system described in method 700 (e.g., staging area system220, as shown in FIG. 2) may be associated with both the first stagingarea (e.g., staging area 212A) and the second staging area (e.g.,staging area 212B). In other aspects, multiple staging area systems maybe associated with different staging areas that may service the sameuser vehicle.

The staging area system may also or subsequently determine, at step 706,whether it has detected a vehicle in the first staging area. In someaspects, the indication to enter may continue to occur until a vehiclehas been detected in the first staging area. The detection may occur byway of image sensor 214A that detects the presence of a large object(e.g., vehicle) on the first staging area, a heat sensor that detectsthe heat of the vehicle, and/or a motion sensor that detects the entryof the vehicle.

Upon detection, the staging area system may send, at step 708, a signalor indicator (e.g., feedback) that a vehicle has been detected. In someaspects, the detected vehicle may be authenticated to be the uservehicle. Such aspects may involve having the user enter in a code, abiometric input, or other such mechanism to allow the server to validatethe detected vehicle as being the user vehicle.

At step 710, the staging area system may determine whether it hasreceived an authorization or an instruction to generate multimediacontent capturing one or more aspects of the vehicle. The authorizationmay be dependent on a proper authentication of the detected vehicle.Instructions for generating multimedia content may describe what aspectsof the vehicle to capture through the multimedia content and/or whichinstruments of the staging area system (e.g., cameras and other imagesensors 322) to be used to generate the multimedia content. If thestaging area system has received an instruction to generate multimediacontent, the staging area system may cause its instruments to capturemultimedia content showing one or more aspects of the vehicle that ispositioned at the first staging area in step 712.

As will be explained further below, after the test drive, the rentaluse, or the lease, the staging area system may again generate multimediacontent of the one or more aspects of the vehicle. For simplicity andclarity, “first multimedia content” may refer to the generatedmultimedia content before the test drive, rental use, or lease, and“second multimedia content” may refer to the generated multimediacontent after the test drive, the rental use, or the lease. It iscontemplated that the one or more aspects for which the first multimediacontent is taken may be the same one or more aspects of the vehicle forwhich the second multimedia content will be taken (e.g., after the testdrive, rental use, or lease). By capturing the same aspects of thevehicle in the first multimedia content and the second multimediacontent, the server may be able to make a reliable assessment of thecondition of the vehicle before and after the test-drive, the rental useperiod, or the lease period. Thus, the server may thereby track thereadiness of the user vehicle 206, e.g., for a subsequent test-drive,rental use, or lease. At step 714, the generated first multimediacontent may be sent to the server, e.g., over the communications network390 via the communications module 230. The first multimedia content mayalso include metadata indicating the time of generation as well as theaspect of the vehicle that the multimedia content captures. The servermay store the first multimedia content along with an indication of theaspects being captured by the first multimedia content, e.g., so that atleast some of these same aspects can be captured by the secondmultimedia content to be generated after the test-drive, rental use, orlease.

After the staging area system sends the multimedia content, the vehiclemay exit the first staging area. In some aspects, the staging areasystem may display an indication to the user to have the vehicle exitthe staging area (e.g., via a textual display saying “please exit now”)and/or to begin the test-drive, rental use, or lease (e.g., via atextual display saying “enjoy the ride”). The staging area system maythen continue its routine operations of monitoring for signals relatedto test-drive, rental use, or lease, or adjusting illumination.

For example, at step 716, the staging area system may determine whetherit has received or detected a signal that the vehicle is returning froma test-drive, a rental use, or a lease or that a test-drive, rental useperiod, or lease period is ending. The server may have determined that astaging area (e.g., second staging area) associated with the stagingarea system is the closest to the vehicle or otherwise associated withthe vehicle, and may send thus send the signal to the staging areasystem. In some aspects, the vehicle associated with the ending of, orreturn from, the test-drive, the rental use, or the lease may have useda staging area (“first staging area”) of a different staging areasystem.

If the staging area system determines that a vehicle is returning from,or ending, a test-drive, rental use, or lease, the staging area systemmay display, at step 718, an indication to enter the second staging area(e.g., staging area 212B). For example, the staging area system maycause traffic signal system 328 to display a text (e.g., “Go,” “Enter,”etc.) or a color signal (e.g., green) to indicate to a user to drive thevehicle into the second staging area (e.g., staging area 212B). Aspreviously discussed, the staging area in which the user vehicle entersafter the test-drive, rental use period, or lease period (e.g., stagingarea 212B) may not necessarily be the same as first staging area whereuser vehicle entered prior to the test-drive, the rental use period, orthe lease period (e.g., staging area 212A). Thus, the staging areaentered after the test dive may be referred to as the “second stagingarea” 212B for simplicity.

At step 720, the staging area system may also or subsequently determinewhether it has detected a vehicle in the second staging area. In someaspects, the indication to enter may continue to occur until a vehiclehas been detected in the second staging area. The detection may occur byway of an image sensor (e.g., sensor 214B) that detects the presence ofa large object (e.g., vehicle) on the second staging area, a heat sensorthat detects the heat of the vehicle, and/or a motion sensor thatdetects the entry of the vehicle.

Upon detection, the staging area system may send a signal or indicator(e.g., feedback) that a vehicle has been detected in step 722. In someaspects, the detected vehicle may be authenticated to be the vehicle.Such aspects may involve having the user enter in a code, a biometricinput, or other such mechanism to allow the server to validate thedetected vehicle as being the vehicle. The code may be entered into themobile device (e.g., mobile device 204) or a device at the staging areasystem.

At step 724, the staging area system may determine whether it hasreceived an authorization or an instruction to generate multimediacontent capturing one or more aspects of the vehicle. The authorizationmay be dependent on a proper authentication of the detected vehicle.Instructions for generating multimedia content may be based on capturingthe aspects of the vehicle that were also captured in the firstmultimedia content. If the staging area system has received aninstruction to generate multimedia content, the staging area system maycause its instruments to generate multimedia content showing the one ormore aspects of the vehicle 206 at step 726. As discussed previously,the multimedia content generated at step 726 may be referred to assecond multimedia content to distinguish from the first multimediacontent generated before the test-drive, the rental use period, or thelease period.

Also as discussed previously, the one or more aspects of the vehiclecaptured in the second multimedia content may be the same one or moreaspects of the vehicle that the first multimedia content captured beforethe test-drive, rental use period, or lease period. By capturing thesame aspects of the vehicle in the first multimedia content and thesecond multimedia content, the server can make a reliable assessment ofthe condition of the vehicle before and after the period for thetest-drive, and may thereby track the readiness of the user vehicle. Atstep 728, the generated second multimedia content may be sent to theserver, e.g., over the communications network 390 via the communicationsmodule 230. The second multimedia content may also include metadataindicating the time of generation as well as the aspect of the vehiclethat the multimedia content captures. The server may store the secondmultimedia content along the time of the generation. The differencebetween the time of generation of the first multimedia content and thetime of generation of the second multimedia content (e.g., the durationof the test-drive, rental use, or lease) may allow the server to betterassess the readiness of the user vehicle. For example, a longer gap intime may explain a change, wear-and-tear, dustiness, deterioration, ordamage of an aspect of a vehicle captured by the first and secondmultimedia content.

After the staging area system 318 sends the second multimedia content atstep 728, the server may use the received first and second multimediacontent, their respective metadata (e.g., time of generation), andvehicle-specific identifying information to perform method 600, aspreviously explained in relation to FIG. 6 to track the readiness of thevehicle. In some aspects, the vehicle may be deemed to be unready for asubsequent test drive, rental use, or lease. The user 202 may benotified via mobile application 316, e.g., for damages or questions, ifsignificant differences are detected between the first and secondmultimedia content suggest a significant damage or deterioration in anaspect of the vehicle. Also or alternatively, the server 352 and/orstaging system 318 may communicate with one or more external systems(e.g., auto dealership or manufacturer computing systems) if the vehicleis deemed to be unready for a subsequent test-drive, rental use, orlease. For example, a comparison between the first and second multimediacontent may reveal dusting or debris build up over the duration of thetest-drive, the rental use, or the lease. By contacting an externalsystem, the vehicle may be repaired or washed, e.g., to make it readyfor subsequent test-drives, rental uses, or leases.

The staging area system may then continue its routine operations ofmonitoring for signals related to a test-drive, a rental use, or alease, or adjusting illumination. As discussed previously, it iscontemplated that one or more of the aforementioned steps or portions ofmethod 700 would be performed by the staging area system while theserver performs method 600.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a first devicecomprising: one or more first processors; and a first memory storingfirst instructions that, when executed by the one or more firstprocessors, cause the first device to: receive vehicle-specificidentifying information of a vehicle requested for a test drive, arental use, or a lease; generate a prompt to place the vehicle within afirst predetermined area; determine, based on an indication receivedfrom a second device, that the vehicle is entering a first predeterminedarea to begin the test drive, the rental use, or the lease; receive,from the second device, first multimedia content showing an aspect ofthe vehicle, and a time of generation of the first multimedia content;determine, based on an indication received from the second device, thatthe vehicle is entering a second predetermined area to end the testdrive, the rental use, or the lease; receive, from the second device,second multimedia content showing the aspect of the vehicle, and a timeof generation of the second multimedia content; identify a machinelearning algorithm corresponding to the vehicle-specific identifyinginformation of the vehicle; input, into the identified machine learningalgorithm, a first image data corresponding to the first multimediacontent and a second image data corresponding to the second multimediacontent; generate, based on the identified machine learning algorithm,an indicia of similarity between the first multimedia content and thesecond multimedia content; generate, based on the indicia of similarity,an assessment of the vehicle; and generate, based on determining thatthe generated assessment fails to satisfy a predetermined threshold, anindication prompting attention to the vehicle; and the second devicecomprising: one or more image sensors; one or more second processors;and a second memory storing second instructions that, when executed bythe one or more second processors, cause the second device to: detect,using the one or more image sensors, that the vehicle is entering thefirst predetermined area; send, to the first device, an indication thatthe vehicle is entering the first predetermined area; generate, usingthe one or more image sensors, the first multimedia content showing theaspect of the vehicle; send, to the first device, the first multimediacontent and the time of generation of the first multimedia content;detect, using the one or more image sensors, that the vehicle isentering the second predetermined area; send, to the first device, anindication that the vehicle is entering the second predetermined area;generate, using the one or more image sensors, the second multimediacontent showing the aspect of the vehicle; and send, to the firstdevice, the second multimedia content and the time of generation of thesecond multimedia content.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the firstpredetermined area comprises the second predetermined area.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first instructions, when executed by theone or more first processors, cause the first device to: prior to thedetermining that the vehicle is entering the first predetermined area tobegin the test drive, the rental use, or the lease, receive, from thesecond device, an indication that the vehicle is entering the firstpredetermined area; authenticate, based on the vehicle-specificidentifying information, the vehicle entering the first predeterminedarea to begin the test drive, the rental use, or the lease; prior to thedetermining that the vehicle is entering the second predetermined areato end the test drive, the rental use, or the lease, receive, from thesecond device an indication that the vehicle is entering the secondpredetermined area; and authenticate, based on the vehicle-specificidentifying information, the vehicle entering the second predeterminedarea to end the test drive, the rental use, or the lease.
 4. The systemof claim 1, wherein the analyzing the first multimedia content and thesecond multimedia content comprises: creating: a first input vectorcomprising first image data corresponding to the first multimediacontent, and a second input vector comprising second image datacorresponding to the second multimedia content; applying a first weightto the first input vector and a second weight to the second inputvector; and generating, based on an artificial neural network, an outputvector to indicate an indicia of similarity between the first multimediacontent and the second multimedia content; and wherein the generatingthe assessment of the vehicle is further based on the indicia ofsimilarity.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first instructions,when executed by the one or more first processors, cause the firstdevice to: send the generated assessment of the vehicle to a thirddevice.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more first processors, cause the first device to:send, to a third device, the indication prompting attention to thevehicle.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device furthercomprises an auditory sensor, and wherein the first instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more first processors, cause the first device to:receive, from the second device, a first recording of a sound of thevehicle, and a time of generation of the first recording; receive, fromthe second device, a second recording of the sound of the vehicle, and atime of generation of the second recording; and analyze the firstrecording and the second recording to determine differences in the soundof the vehicle, wherein the generating the assessment of the vehicle isfurther based on a comparison of the first recording and the secondrecording; and wherein the second instructions, when executed by the oneor more second processors, cause the second device to: generate, usingthe auditory sensor, the first recording of the sound of the vehicle;send, to the first device, the first recording and the time ofgeneration of the first recording; generate, using the auditory sensor,the second recording of the sound of the vehicle; and send, to the firstdevice, the second recording and the time of generation of the secondrecording.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the second device furthercomprises one or more telematics sensors, and wherein the firstinstructions, when executed by the one or more first processors, causethe first device to: receive, from the second device, a first reading ofthe one or more telematics sensors and a time of generation of the firstreading; and receive, from the second device, a second reading of theone or more telematics sensors and a time of generation of the secondreading; and analyze the first reading and the second reading todetermine a difference in reading of the one or more telematics sensors,wherein the generating the assessment of the vehicle is further based ondifference in the reading; and wherein the second instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more second processors, cause the second deviceto: capture, using the one or more telematics sensor, the first readingof the one or more vehicle sensors; send, to the first device, the firstreading and the time of generation of the first reading; capture, usingthe one or more telematics sensors, the second reading of the one ormore telematics sensors; and send, to the first device, the secondreading and the time of generation of the second reading.
 9. The systemof claim 8, wherein the one or more telematics sensors comprises one ormore of: an oil filter sensor, an odometer, a fuel tank sensor, athermometer, a vehicle computer, or a voltage sensor.
 10. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more image sensors are calibrated togenerate the first multimedia content based on a degree of illuminationwithin the first predetermined area or a time within a diurnal cycle,and wherein the one or more image sensors are calibrated to generate thesecond multimedia content based on a degree of illumination within thesecond predetermined area or a time within the diurnal cycle.
 11. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the first instructions, when executed by theone or more first processors, cause the first device to: prior to thedetermining that the vehicle is within the first predetermined area,send, to a third device, the prompt to place the vehicle within thefirst predetermined area, wherein the third device is a mobile device ofa user of the vehicle.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the aspect ofthe vehicle comprises one or more of: an exterior region of the vehicle,an interior region of the vehicle, a performance of the vehicle, a soundof the vehicle, a damage to an exterior or interior region of thevehicle, a level of debris on an exterior region of the vehicle, or aweather-related or environmental impact on the vehicle.
 13. The systemof claim 1, wherein the vehicle-specific identifying informationcomprises one or more of: a year of manufacture of the vehicle, a makeof the vehicle, a model of the vehicle, a class of the vehicle, avehicle type of the vehicle, a color of the vehicle, or an alphanumericidentifier.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first devicecomprises the second device.
 15. A method comprising: receivingvehicle-specific identifying information of a vehicle requested for atest drive, a rental use, or a lease; generating a prompt to place thevehicle within a first predetermined area; determining, based on adetection by one or more image sensors, that the vehicle is entering thefirst predetermined area to begin the test drive, the rental use, or thelease; generating, using the one or more image sensors, first multimediacontent showing an aspect of the vehicle; determining, based ondetection by the one or more image sensors, an indication that thevehicle is entering a second predetermined area to end the test drive,the rental use, or the lease; generating, using the one or more imagesensors, second multimedia content showing the aspect of the vehicle;identifying a machine learning algorithm corresponding to thevehicle-specific identifying information of the vehicle; inputting, intothe identified machine learning algorithm, a first image datacorresponding to the first multimedia content and a second image datacorresponding to the second multimedia content; generating, based on theidentified machine learning algorithm, an indicia of similarity betweenthe first multimedia content and the second multimedia content;generating, based on the indicia of similarity, an assessment of thevehicle; determining whether the generated assessment fails to satisfy apredetermined threshold; and generating, based on determining that thegenerated assessment fails to satisfy the predetermined threshold, anindication prompting attention to the vehicle.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein the first predetermined area comprises the secondpredetermined area.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the analyzingthe first multimedia content and the second multimedia contentcomprises: creating: a first input vector comprising first image datacorresponding to the first multimedia content, and a second input vectorcomprising second image data corresponding to the second multimediacontent; applying a first weight to the first input vector and a secondweight to the second input vector; and generating, based on anartificial neural network, an output vector to indicate an indicia ofsimilarity between the first multimedia content and the secondmultimedia content; and wherein the generating the assessment of thevehicle is further based on the indicia of similarity.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: sending, to a device, the indicationprompting attention to the vehicle.
 19. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: prior to the determining that the vehicle is within thefirst predetermined area, sending, to a mobile device of a user of thevehicle, the prompt to place the vehicle within the first predeterminedarea.
 20. One or more non-transitory media storing instructions that,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform steps comprising: receiving vehicle-specificidentifying information of a vehicle requested for a test drive, arental use, or a lease; generating a prompt to place the vehicle withina predetermined area; determining, based on a detection by one or moreimage sensors of a device and an authentication using thevehicle-specific identifying information, that the vehicle is enteringthe predetermined area to begin the test drive, the rental use, or thelease; sending, to the device, permission to capture a first multimediacontent showing an aspect of the vehicle; receiving, from the device,the first multimedia content showing the aspect of the vehicle, and atime of generation of the first multimedia content; determining, basedon a detection by the one or more image sensors of the device, that thevehicle is entering the predetermined area to end the test drive, therental use, or the lease; receiving, from the one or more image sensors,a second multimedia content showing the aspect of the vehicle, and atime of generation of the second multimedia content; analyzing the firstmultimedia content and the second multimedia content to determinedifferences in the aspect of the vehicle, the analyzing comprising:creating a first input vector comprising a first image data of the firstmultimedia content and a second input vector comprising a second imagedata of the second multimedia content; applying a first weight to thefirst input vector and a second weight to the second input vector; andgenerating, based on an artificial neural network, an output vector toindicate an indicia of similarity between the first multimedia contentand the second multimedia content; generating, based on the indicia ofsimilarity, an assessment of the vehicle; determining whether thegenerated assessment fails to satisfy a predetermined threshold; andgenerating, based on determining that the generated assessment fails tosatisfy the predetermined threshold, an indication prompting attentionto the vehicle.